Background on NRP

Understanding NRP

In the 1980s, Minneapolis was in crisis: The city’s population had plummeted by more than 150,000 over four decades. Faced with thousands of boarded and vacant homes and commercial buildings, the state legislature and the City of Minneapolis established the Neighborhood Revitalization Program (NRP).

Here is how residents worked through their neighborhood organizations in partnership with NRP to save the City of Minneapolis.

The Crisis and the Solution: NRP

A line graph showing decline of population from 521,718 to 370,951 over four decades, with image of boarded house in background.

Over four decades (1950 through 1990) the City of Minneapolis lost more than 150,000 residents.

Minneapolis was filled with thousands of boarded and vacant homes and commercial properties.

Picture of a boarded and vacant house in Minneapolis, from the 1980s — Boarded house in Minneapolis, circa 1980s

A picture of collapsing garages in Minneapolis, from the 1980s. — Collapsing garages in Minneapolis, circa 1980s.

As a result, the City experienced a declining tax base, increasing crime, and crumbling schools, parks and streets.

"If unabated, these trends mean Minneapolis will crash and burn as a decent livable city over the next 20 years."

Picture of an abandoned car in a Minneapolis alley in the 1980s. — Abandoned car in Minneapolis alley, circa 1980s

Picture of a boarded commercial property in Minneapolis ca 1980s — Boarded commercial property in Minneapolis, circa 1980s

"The elected officials twenty years from now cannot prevent this… "

"We must have our neighborhoods effectively function as the basic building blocks of this revitalization plan."

Picture of the Whittier Alliance office, ca 1980s — Whittier Alliance office, circa 1980s

Picture of residents at a neighborhood meeting from the 1980s. — Residents at a neighborhood meeting, circa 1980s

"It is their planning, their priorities, their needs that are the driving force—the engine—that will make revitalization a reality."

MCDA Executive Director James Heltzer - 1988

The NRP Framework

The NRP structure and funding is determined by both Minnesota Statute and City Ordinance. By state and local law, $390 million was to be allocated over 20 years to support revitalization projects created and implemented by residents working through their neighborhood organizations.

The NRP laws identified the structure and goals of NRP:

Citizen participation was a core element of NRP.
An independent NRP Policy Board was required by statute.
NRP dollars could only be spent on adminsistration of the program, or on activities identified in approved neighborhood action plans.
The city must organize neighborhoods to prepare and implement neighborhood action plans, and "must include the participation of, whenever possible, all populations and interests in each neighborhood including renters, homeowners, people of color, business owners, representatives of neighborhood institutions, youth, and the elderly."

In short, NRP was to be a bottom up, resident driven planning process, and was intended to provide the resources necessary for neighborhood organizations to implement those plans.

NRP planning was divided into two 10-year phases. Each neighborhood organization would plan for and implement the first ten-year plan before beginning planning for the second ten-year plan.

The NRP Process

The neighborhood organization signs a participation agreement with NRP. The agreement outlined the process the neighborhood would use to involve all stakeholders in the planning process, and how the plan would be approved by the community.

Participation Agreement

The Neighborhood Organization forms an independent steering committee representative of the neighborhood. The steering committee is responsible for nearly all aspects of outreach, plan development, and community approval.

Steering Committee

Steering committees reach out through door-knocking, surveys, meetings, focus groups, charettes, and more. Neighborhood steering committees took on average 40 months to plan and approve their NRP Phase 1 plans in the 1990s, with a median of 34 months. The 18 most diverse neighborhood organizations in the City took on average more than 44 months to develop their Phase 1 neighborhood plans.

Outreach

The community approved the Neighborhood Action Plan through community meetings, community wide ballots, focus groups, or other similar methods. The neighborhood organization board would then also approve the Neighborhood Action Plan.

Community Approval

The neighborhood organization and steering committee present their plan to the NRP Policy Board for review and approval. This includes reviewing the process they used to engage all stakeholders. The NRP Policy Board forwards the Neighborhood Action Plan to the City, County, and other agencies for review and adoption.

NRP Policy Board and City Approval

The neighborhood organization organizes volunteers to implement the Neighborhood Action Plan over the next five to ten years, in partnership with City departments, housing agencies, the County, Park Board, Library Board, School Board and many others!

Implementation!

Cedar Riverside residents vote on their Phase 1 NRP Action Plan at the Brian Coyle Community Center. The Cedar Riverside NRP organized multiple balloting stations at many locations in the neighborhood over several days.

The Outcomes

Since 1991, the NRP Policy Board has allocated $236 million through 136 approved neighborhood action plans. Neighborhood organizations generated an additional $40.3 million through NRP programs. Here are some sample neighborhood NRP action plans from the 1990s and 2000s:

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