Chair Erin Murphy convened a Dec. 1 hearing of the Boston City Council Committee on Strong Women, Families and Community to review the mayor's youth sports initiative, "Let's Play Boston." Jose Maso, chief of human services, and Tyrique Wilson, the city's youth sports initiatives manager, described the program's structure, goals and early investments.

Maso presented 2023 Boston Public Schools survey results that show 43% of high school students and 53% of middle-school students participated in at least one sport, and described pronounced racial and gender gaps: "69% of white students play sports, yet only 55% of Black students and 41% of Latino students play sports. Asian students have the lowest participation rate at 37% and only 39% of girls play sports," he said. Maso said the initiative aligns with the federal Healthy People 2030 target of 63% participation and that the city plans to pursue that by increasing participation 2 percentage points a year, with a priority on girls and youth of color.

The city framed the work around three strategies: lowering barriers to participation (through affordability and sign-up supports), investing in human capital and facilities (coaching, referees and facility repairs), and leveraging sports for community building and economic opportunities. Maso described a suite of tools already active under the initiative: a public "Let's Play Boston" sports directory intended as a one-stop listing of neighborhood programs, a small grants program that offers up to $5,000 to community sports providers, and pilots to expand free BCYF programming. "We have at least 4 city departments working shoulder to shoulder," Maso said, describing quarterly interdepartmental "huddles" that include BCYF, BPS and Parks.

On funding and scale, Maso said two grant cycles have awarded funding to over 75 grantees totaling "almost $1,000,000," that BCYF launched a three-season recreation league engaging roughly 300 youth per league, and that the administration has invested more than $50,000,000 in pool renovations to upgrade 12 of 22 pools citywide. Maso also cited Swim Safe Boston's free lessons, saying the program has provided about 12,000 lessons to date.

Councilors asked for specificity about where grants and capital dollars are going and how the city prioritizes neighborhoods. Maso said the facilities mapping effort catalogs city-, state- and privately-owned spaces to provide a line of sight for equitable investment, and that monthly and quarterly interagency meetings inform prioritization. Staff also said a limited set of emergency rolling funds is available for grantees facing unexpected expenses between annual grant cycles.

The presentation closed with staff inviting council participation in outreach, promotion and continued coordination; Maso asked councilors to help publicize sign-ups and recognition opportunities for student athletes. The hearing then moved to a community panel to surface implementation challenges from neighborhood organizations.