The Parks and Power Campaign (P&P) is responsive to community interest and issues of park and green space specifically related to racial and economic justice in Minneapolis.

Currently, organizers are engaging with community on issues of forced tree removals and undue economic burdens placed on low-income and/or BIPOC residents in North Minneapolis by the city and Minneapolis Parks and Recreation Board to combat the Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) Infestation.

Through summer and fall 2025, P&P will host events to make running for park board commissioner a more accessible possibility as well as give community opportunity to meet with and hear from their park board commissioner candidates before elections in November.

For more current updates and to get involved:

Resources

Gathering and sharing information, history, and breaking down knowledge barriers is foundational to our park equity work and popular education philosophy. We’ve put together various tools and resources to share in community that are accessible below.

*Please credit Hope Community if you use and share the below resources.

The Magic Bike Tour: a comic book on the history of the Minneapolis park development. Made by Parks and Power staff with artist/illustrator Hawwa Youngmark.

Parks and Power Coloring Book: Created in partnership with artist/illustrator Hawwa Youngmark.

The Minneapolis Park Police Explained: zine outlining information about the MPRB Park Police. Made by Parks and Power staff with illustrator Connor Rice.

What are Park Dedication Fees?: One-pager explaining park dedication fees in Spanish and English. For the one-pager in Somali click here.

Minneapolis Parks and Recreation Board Budget Explainer: Infographic explaining key terms and roles for who controls and influences the MPRB budget.

MPRB Budget Timeline (2020): Budget timeline for the 2020 budget creation for the Minneapolis Parks and Recreation Board (MPRB), as a resource for funding advocacy.

Interviews around the local EAB Issue: https://www.youtube.com/@parksandpower

Background

Parks and Power emerged out of Hope’s response to hearing from community members about a dangerous, under-resourced Peavey Park two blocks from Hope. The first two cohorts of SPEAC did research about parks of similar size across Minneapolis. They wrote a report to the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board called “The Broken Promise” about the disparities they uncovered between Peavey Park and others in more affluent areas. The work developed from there into city-wide campaigning for racial equity in the Minneapolis park systems and bringing community along in advocating for policies directly related to their lives and experiences. This work honors and uplifts community knowledge about what doesn’t work and what is needed. When they learn about the systems in their city, they show up with confidence to be part of major public issues that impact the community.