MPRB engages Northside locals, expands community engagement for park plans

Based on feedback on previous engagement efforts, the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board (MPRB) is piloting new models for community engagement in North Minneapolis. The Community Connectors program has local individuals and organizations conceiving and executing community engagement for long-term park plans in North Minneapolis.

Goals for the Community Connectors program include: 

  • Broaden engagement and input on the North Service Area Master Plan (NSAMP), which includes all neighborhood parks in North Minneapolis and will guide capital improvements, management and operations in that service area for the next 30 years. 
  • Conduct public engagement in new and more inventive ways
  • Spend more of the NSAMP project budget on contractors and consultants who reside or work in North Minneapolis 

Community Connector Projects

In June, the community advisory committee for the NSAMP project selected the following 11 Community Connectors projects from more than 30 that were proposed. These engagement activities have been and will be unfolding at parks and other sites throughout North Minneapolis this summer. 

  • Change Equals Opportunity (C.E.O.) Basketball League event outreach – Community conversations and surveys with youth participants of northside life skills mentoring program
  • Cleveland Park event, survey and door-knocking by Cleveland Neighborhood Organization with five Step Up interns to engage neighbors and youth in the park
  • Farwell Park events with outreach by Northside Residents Redevelopment Council; includes Jazz performance, Youth Art Festival, and Youth Performance at National Night Out
  • FLOW art festival outreach by Juxtaposition Arts with hands-on visioning activities like model making, sculpture creation and drawing
  • Freestyle Dance Pop Ups by ENRG Dance Team – 15 hip hop dance events outside in North Minneapolis, with parks information sharing and audience/participant surveys
  • Jordan neighborhood Pop Ups and door knocking – door-knocking and two pop-up events at Cottage and Glen Gale parks using The Big Table and Sparkit equipment from artists of Ready Go Art
  • Lunch in the Garden with Step Up students by NoMi Roots, partnering with Project Sweetie Pie to train 10 Step Up students to flyer neighborhoods, talk to neighbors, and host an open public lunch in the garden to discuss parks master plans
  • Northside 3 events with outreach by Redeemer Center for Life (church) – includes National Night Out, Block Party, neighborhood Cookout, and displays in Harrison neighborhood and other northside Redeemer spaces
  • Northside Story Circle by Asian Media Access – Youth Media Force members will collect and broadcast stories created at “photo booths with an attitude” at Northside parks and festivals, and through street interviews and radio
  • Slow Roll Bike Rides by Anthony Taylor – casual, family-friendly bike tours of North Minneapolis parks, ending with a group cookout and discussion in a park about NSAMP.
  • Your Parks Your Designs outreach by Assata Brown – interactive community conversations about parks throughout the Northside

More information

 

Media inquiries 

Dawn Sommers, Director, Communications and Marketing
Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board
612-230-6407
DSommers@minneapolisparks.org

Project Contact

Adam Regn Arvidson, PLA, FASLA
Project Manager
Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board
612-230-6470
aarvidson@minneapolisparks.org