FOURTEEN PUBLIC SCHOOLS in San Francisco’s under-resourced communities are getting new or upgraded turf fields as play and recreation spaces for thousands of young students.
Some schools are getting their asphalt school yards replaced with turf fields and others are having old fields upgraded. The fields are made of a type of synthetic turf that was selected for durability and lower maintenance requirements. The synthetic turf was selected for durability and lower maintenance requirements and does not use crumb-rubber infill. According to the project organizers, it is manufactured without per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, a group of potentially harmful synthetic chemicals.
The program is led in partnership by Playing for Keeps Foundation, an organization that promotes equitable access to artificial turf play spaces, and America SCORES Bay Area, a youth development nonprofit.
“We know what happens when you replace asphalt with a field kids can actually use,” said America SCORES Bay Area CEO and executive director Colin Schmidt in a statement. “For years, we have moved this work forward school by school. Our partnership with Playing for Keeps gives us a chance to think bigger, with thousands of students and a model built to grow.”
At six schools, new sports fields have already been completed. Those schools are Harvey Milk Civil Rights Academy, New Traditions Creative Arts Elementary School, Monroe Elementary School, Willie L. Brown Jr. Middle School, Malcolm X Academy Elementary School, and Sherman Elementary School.
Eight schools with new turf fields in the works are Sanchez Elementary School, Hillcrest Elementary School, Tenderloin Community Elementary School, E.R. Taylor Elementary School, Marshall Elementary School, Bret Harte Elementary School, Paul Revere (PreK-8) School, and an additional middle school that will be announced in the future.
“A quality field is not a luxury,” said Playing for Keeps Foundation president Mimi Nartey in a statement. “It is part of the infrastructure of childhood — a place to move, compete, make friends and discover what you can do. A child’s ZIP code should never determine whether they get that chance.”
The new fields come at no cost to the schools. Funding for the project, approximately $1.9 million, includes support from Airbnb and the San Francisco-based philanthropic group Herbst Foundation.
The new fields together cover more than 100,000 square feet, or about two full-size football fields. It’s estimated that the new fields will serve more than 4,000 students annually over the next decade.
