I am Max Levitt, Executive Director and founder of Leveling the Playing Field, Inc., a nonprofit organization dedicated to increasing access to during and out of school time sports activities. We do this by providing completely free sports equipment to schools and youth programs working in under resourced communities across the United States and internationally. As the Executive Director of Leveling the Playing Field I oversee our strategic plan, organizational initiatives, and the growth/development of the organization. We currently operate warehouses in the Greater Washington area, Baltimore, MD and Philadelphia, PA where we distribute over $3M worth of equipment to over 750 programs every year. Since 2013, we have provided over 1,500 programs with a combined $13M+ of donated sports equipment.Where does our equipment come from? Our organization runs an extensive collection and volunteer program that engages the more affluent youth sports community through community service projects and collection drives. Every weekend you will see Leveling the Playing Field trucks and staff out at leagues, tournaments, recycling days, earth day fairs and really any other grassroots community event that is attended by soccer moms and dads looking to clean out their garages. Every year we engage well over 2,000 volunteers and collect over $3.5M worth of equipment from thousands of donors in our communities. The inequity in youth sports exists in every community across the country, whether urban, suburban or rural. The high cost of sports equipment plays a major role in that inequity, but luckily the answer is right under our noses in garages sometimes only miles down the road from the household where a mom or dad is telling their kids that they cannot play baseball this Spring because the costs are too high. Leveling the Playing Field is the connective tissue funneling that gear collecting dust in a garage to that kid desperate to get on the playing field. We are looking to bring our program to every community across the United States over the next 5, 10, 15 years and beyond. If you want to be a part of that systemic change, lets work together to make sure every kid has the ability to reap the physical and mental benefits that youth sports have to offer!