Friends of streets.mn, good news! 
The streets.mn Board of Directors is excited to share with you our new Mission and Values.
As an organization, we’ve had the same mission since our inception. There are many reasons that the Board felt it was time for an update. Among them is that we wanted to make sure our mission sparked broad conversations about urban design and transportation issues in Minnesota, and that the conversation did not seem exclusionary. At the same time, we wanted to reflect the passion that brings so many volunteer writers and interested readers to the site.
The new mission is simple:
To foster positive connections and inclusive conversations about better places in Minnesota
Throughout the process of coming up with the mission, we uncovered a larger conversation about the shared values that tie together the writers, readers, commenters, organizers, and board members that together create streets.mn. We want these values to be at the core of what makes people care so deeply about cities, streets, towns, and shared public spaces.
The process has been going on since last year. We’ve had a few different committees and task forces meeting over the months. Back in the spring, we asked you (the readers) for input, and collated all the responses. We had more meetings, and brainstrorms. At the end, we were able to boil down our Core values into four keys:
A better place is one that is…
People-centered: transportation and public spaces should center on people rather than private vehicles
Future-oriented: the built environment should be designed for the needs of future generations, and in the context of a rapidly changing non-human world
Justice-driven: cities, towns, and streets should empower and include people of all ages, especially the vulnerable and marginalized
Delight-cultivating: places should inspire happiness and wonder in all seasons and all times of the night and day
Our hope is that this mission and these values better represent the existing energy and drive that brings writers and readers together to talk about, dream about, and work toward better places in Minnesota.
Thanks for reading, writing, and being part of streets.mn.