Mission and Parks For All Comprehensive Plan Mission, Vision, and Values

Mission

The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board permanently preserves, protects, maintains, improves, and enhances its natural resources, parkland, and recreational opportunities for current and future generations of our region including people, plants, and wildlife.

The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board dismantles historic inequities in the provision of park and recreation opportunities for all people to gather, celebrate, contemplate, and engage in activities that promote health, wellbeing, community, and the environment.

Vision

In 2036, the Minneapolis park and recreation system embodies equitable park and recreation access balanced with ecological health. It is a premier destination that welcomes and brings joy to people that live, play, work, study in and visit Minneapolis. Natural, cultural, artistic, historical, athletic, and recreational resources cultivate outstanding experiences that break down barriers to health, enjoyment, fun and learning for all people. The park system meets the needs of individuals, families and communities across culture, class, race/ethnicity, language, ability, geography, generation and gender. A robust and vibrant tree canopy and system of natural areas extends its health, economic, and environmental benefits to every home. The focus on preserving land continues, with a strong emphasis on connecting people to the land and each other. Through storytelling and experience, MPRB fosters pride in park users and staff and cultivates a new generation of proud stewards and supporters of an extraordinary park and recreation system.

Values

Equitable
An equitable park system is one that provides just and fair inclusion for all people across age, race, culture, economic status, ability, and gender, and acknowledges that racial equity needs to be the priority in our work to dismantle systemic racism in our city.

An equitable park system honors the unique qualities and needs of each user and neighborhood in design, programming, access to nature, registration, customer service and management. An equitable park and recreation system acknowledges past harms and works to ameliorate them, is adaptable, and is shaped by community and staffed by people who reflect the community. It also strives for a sense of welcome and joy in parks for all.

Sustainable
A sustainable park and recreation system is one that cares for its resources, both natural and financial, across generations. A sustainable system aligns with budget staff and facility capacity. It is also based on sustainable, climate resilient, or carbon neutral guidelines.

Environmental sustainability and an ecological focus on the preservation of parklands, natural areas, waters and the urban forest as well as management, design, operations and programming of parks through practices that mitigate and adapt to climate change. Economic sustainability is focused on the short-term and long-term financial stability of the park system.

Connected
A connected park and recreation system operates with contextual awareness of the larger social, economic, political, and natural systems. The board and staff engage community and other agencies and organizations in decision making. Connection also includes physical connection of ecological systems and equitable access to parks through proximity for all Minneapolis residents.

Independent
Independence allows the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board to focus on obtaining, retaining, and providing the resources necessary to accomplish its mission.

MPRB ensures parks for all and fosters and retains partnerships to meet the broad needs of the community.

Accountable
An accountable park and recreation system and board is one that stewards community visions toward implementation. It sustains long-term relationships with the land and public for the betterment of the park system and all living beings. An accountable agency creates avenues for employees and the public to engage in decision making.

Innovative
An innovative park and recreation system continually seeks ways to better deliver park and recreation services. Innovation supports responsiveness to changes in community, globally and locally. An innovative system and its leadership look to national and international inspiration, strives for excellence in all that it does, and relies on technology and data to inform decision making at all levels. A flexible approach allows for innovation to happen, and balanced with the other values is an important core trait.

Goals

Goal 1: Foster belonging and equity
Goal 2: Steward a continuum of nature and recreation
Goal 3: Provide core services with care
Goal 4: Work from our strengths and determine our role in partnerships
Goal 5: Expand focus on health equity
Goal 6: Strengthen ecological connections
Goal 7: Connect through communications and technology
Goal 8: Cultivate a thriving workforce
Goal 9: Operate a financially sustainable enterprise

 

The Mission, Vision, Values, and Goals are from the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board Comprehensive Plan, Parks for All. Click here for the full plan [PDF].

The 2023-2026 Strategic Directions, Performance Goals and Priority Comprehensive Plan Strategies were approved in May 2022. Click here to review.

The Parks for All Goals Dashboard is a storytelling tool created to track progress by the MPRB and Twin Cities metro area on topics related to nine goals identified in Parks for All. View the Parks for All Goals Dashboard.