INVESTMENT PROJECTS

OTHER INVESTMENT PROJECTS

Minneapolis Parks Foundation is working on several additional projects in various stages of development:

· Park Needs on the North Side – We are actively working with several other organizations to target and implement the creation of more parks and trails on the North Side. This will enhance the connections of neighborhood residents to their local parks and to each other. It should also increase the attractiveness of the area to prospective home buyers, and increase property values of nearby homes.

· Childrens’ Play Area for Downtown -- We are partnering with neighborhood groups and the MPRB to create a childrens’ nature play area along the Mississippi River near downtown residential neighborhoods, where no play area currently exists. This will enable many children in these downtown areas to have more regular outside activity and connection to the joys of nature.

· Renovating Wirth Park Picnic Pavilion – We have taken the lead in seeking to renovate this historic 1930s building. With sufficient donor support, the renewed Wirth Park Picnic Pavilion could once again be a center of community activity, with carefully developed programs in gardening, cooking, nutrition, and outdoor play; we are partnering with the MPRB and Kids’ Cook on this project.

We also remain interested in developing more self directed activities from chess to theater to lawn bowling to croquet, where neighbors of all ages can enjoy games and interactions in their local parks. Increased intergenerational interactions have proven to enhance one’s enjoyment of life, and to develop stronger self confidence and social skills. As the MPRB develops it plans for use of capital funds, we will be advocating for investments in these types of projects, which connect more people to the parks and to each other.