Mayor Michelle Wu attends opening day of South End Baseball in May. PHOTO: JOHN WILCOX/MAYOR

A new city grant aims to give Boston’s youth better access to community sports programs.

The Community Sports Grant program was announced on August 20 by Mayor Michelle Wu’s administration. It offers grants of up to $10,000 to youth sports organizations in the community, with a focus on those that are majority-volunteer-run.

“We see every day how beneficial the self-confidence that sport gives young people is and how much work these organizations put into setting up these leagues and programs,” says José Massó, head of the city’s social services.

In total, the city plans to provide $300,000 to community organizations for fall, winter and spring sports operations. Applications for the grant program are open until September 13.

With the grant, the city hopes to reduce barriers to access to programs. The funds will be used to reduce registration fees, purchase new equipment and uniforms, or cover the cost of renting space.

Tyrik Wilson, director of the city’s youth sports initiative, said that in his experience, many organizations offer great programs but face obstacles because it is simply financially difficult to run the sports activities.

“Often there are a lot of great programs running, but they struggle financially to meet the requirements that the programs need to have in order to continue doing such great things,” Wilson said. “This grant helps fill that gap, and hopefully more programs can make their services more accessible to youth and also amplify what they’re already doing.”

The barrier-breaking approach also includes trying to support groups that have historically been underserved by sports programs – children from low-income families and communities of color, as well as girls and LGBTQ+ youth.

This also includes making the experiences available to children in the city more diverse, both in terms of the sports they have access to and the ways in which they interact with them.

“We know that not all young people see themselves in sport and not all families are able to make a financial contribution to sport,” said Massó. “That is the contribution, that is the general hope.”

With the funding program, the city wants to support not only sports such as basketball or swimming, but also less traditional and possibly non-competitive sports such as fencing, sailing and kayaking.

“They’ve always existed, but when we go back to the discussion about access and barriers to access, the kids we work with and serve don’t always have access to these types of programs because they’re not exposed to them and they don’t know where to go, or there are simply financial barriers,” Wilson said.

And within the sports programs, Massó said he would like to see more kids explore more roles and skills beyond the sport itself, such as refereeing or coaching, videographers, photographers or data collectors, allowing the city’s youth to engage on a broader level. He called it a “holistic approach” that allows for more connections and discoveries.

“There’s this whole other element to sport in general that young people can get involved with without having to be the direct athletes themselves,” he said.

The scholarship program is part of the city’s “Connect, Learn, Explore” program, an agenda Wu launched in March 2023.

Beyond sport, the focus of this agenda is on art and plant cultivation, and in particular cycling and swimming, with the aim of strengthening young people’s links with extracurricular activities.

“Part of our responsibility to keep Boston’s young people healthy and happy is to ensure that each of them has access to enriching experiences outside of the classroom,” Wu said in a statement about the new scholarship program. “It’s a joy to partner with youth sports programs across the city to keep our kids moving.”

For Massó, the skills taught in these five areas – including in sport, both on and off the field – can help develop important competencies for later life.

“The mayor sees these as areas of focus in developing our young people and recognizes that these are lifelong skills that can be learned at any age,” said Massó. “Whether young people go on to participate in professional sport themselves, directly or indirectly, there are many different things that can be learned just by participating.”