Intangible Assets:

ASSET MAP Gifts/Skills/Capacities of:

-Diversity
-Cultural identity -Students
-Parents
-Senior Citizens
-Artists
INTANGIBLE LOCAL
ASSETS RESIDENTS

Physical Spaces: Associations:

-Trails -Community
-Three Rivers Park PHYSICAL Emergency
District (62) ASSOCIATIONS Asisstance Program
SPACES
-Northwoods Park (CEAP)
-Community -Places of worship
gardens -Summer Camp
-Wheelchair INSTITUTIONS
softball field
-Eidem
Homestead
-Fishing pond
-Playgrounds Institutions:
-Hennepin Technical College
-School District #279
-Hennepin County Library
-Community Activity Center

Local residents Associations Institutions Physical spaces Intangible assets

Ellie Kust

EXPL 390

Action Plan

March 25, 2018

Brooklyn Park is a thriving, diverse community with many assets. From my research, the asset that

draws my attention the most is the multitude of physical spaces. The city maintains a variety of public

outdoor spaces for people to enjoy, from trails and parks to community gardens and fishing ponds. In

addition, these green spaces are inclusive and expansive. For example, the 62 parks in the Three Rivers Park

District include the fully accessible Northwoods Park, where people of all abilities can play and relax. This

park is also located near a wheelchair softball field, the only one of its kind in the five-state area.

Furthermore, Brooklyn Park also hosts the Eidem Homestead, a historical farm that dates back to 1894.

Today, the homestead hosts educational tours, community activities and events, and rents garden plots to

members of the community. These physical spaces are an asset to the community because they provide a

place for people to enjoy nature, spend time with family and friends, and engage in outdoor activities.

Another important asset of Brooklyn Park is its local residents. The citizens of a community are the

principal asset; their skills and gifts are the foundation asset-based of community development. Students in

Brooklyn Park are a valuable asset because they can take instruction well and are forward-thinking and

educated. Additionally, artists have talent and creativity and can express their thoughts artistically. Artists

can bring a unique perspective to community development and bring awareness to issues through art.

Another helpful group of local residents is senior citizens; their availability during the day is beneficial for

community organizing, since they have a flexible schedule.

Despite having such abundant and beautiful green spaces, one deficit of the community that could be

improved upon is the city’s environmental sustainability. Thus, this action plan seeks to combine Brooklyn

Park’s assets to bring awareness to this issue and ultimately solve it. I believe that combining the human

assets of the community with the physical spaces’ assets is an effective way to improve upon the deficit in
the community, because it works from the interior capacities of the community to make the city better as a

whole. It also promotes a more sustainable solution to the deficit, because the action comes from within the

community, rather than an outside party providing a temporary solution or a program that ultimately will not

last in the future.

The goal of this action plan is to introduce a compost program and eliminate waste in public green

spaces, in order to encourage the community to “go green” and maintain its green spaces. Essentially, the

Eidem Homestead (and other public green spaces) will implement a compost program on its property, as well

as a pick-up service to bring the compost to a facility. Alternatively, the compost that the community collects

can be used to fertilize the community garden plots at the historical farm. Although the Eidem Homestead

will be the target of this project, if it demonstrates initial success, the program can be expanded to the local

public library, the school district, and the Three Rivers Park district (a variety of parks and trails). The hope

is that the action plan will initiate a sustainable movement that will gradually be adopted by other institutions

and physical green spaces, in order to eliminate waste and keep these assets well-maintained.

To put my plan into action, I will organize a benefit event that showcases various assets of the

community to raise awareness and funding for this project. This project will combine the assets and

capacities of students, artists, senior citizens, community gardens, and the Eidem Homestead. At the event,

local musical artists will perform, and there will be a silent auction for local visual artists to showcase and

sell their work. Students from the public school district will present a variety of short skits to educate the

audience on the importance of composting and reducing waste and its positive impact on the environment.

People who use the community gardens can also add to the discourse by providing information about the

benefits of the garden, and perhaps selling fresh produce and flowers from their own plots. In addition,

senior citizens will volunteer at the event and can organize a bake sale to raise funding. The benefit event

will unite the community and inspire action to increase environmental sustainability. It is important to

protect and maintain public green spaces such as the Eidem Homestead and its community garden plots, not

only for the city’s overall development but to decrease its environmental footprint.