On April 20 Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board (MPRB) staff will present criteria and a proposed rehabilitation and capital investment implementation plan for the first five years to ensure, if additional funding becomes available for neighborhood parks, investments will be made equitably within the neighborhood park system. The presentation will be made during the April 20 Board meeting, which begins at 5 pm at MPRB Headquarters, 2117 West River Road, Minneapolis.

Specific, quantifiable criteria will be used to determine where future rehabilitation and capital project funding is allocated throughout Minneapolis’ neighborhood park system. The criteria fall in two categories: community characteristics and park characteristics. Community characteristics include neighborhood demographic data such as identified racially concentrated areas of poverty, population density, youth population and crime statistics. Park characteristics include park asset data like asset condition, asset lifespan and proportionality of investment (the amount of capital funding spent to date on a neighborhood park’s assets in proportion to the total value of the funding originally invested to create the assets in that park).

The proposed implementation plan will specify the first five years of recommended rehabilitation and capital projects if additional neighborhood park funding becomes available.  During the April 20 presentation, MPRB staff will share results of park ratings, based on the criteria that were developed with feedback from representatives of organizations whose work is focused on racial equity.