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, P&P is focused on tracking ICE activity in the Minneapolis Parks and ensuring the implementation of the Racial Equity Impact Analysis for all Park Board decisions and policies.
For more current updates and to get involved:
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.
2026 MPRB Candidate Guide: a PDF on who runs the parks and what they campaigned on.
The Complex History of the MPRB: a short PDF on the history of the Minneapolis Parks and Recreation Board.
So You Want to Run?: A short zine for those curious about running for park board.
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
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.