Re-Elect Erin Kolb for Three Rivers Parks Commissioner
Hi, I'm Erin Kolb, and I am running for re-election as the Three Rivers Parks Commissioner for District 3
About Me
My Background
I'm Erin Kolb, and I'm running for re-election to the Three Rivers Park District Board of Directors representing District 3.
For more than ten years, I served as a volunteer Parks Commissioner in Crystal, where I helped develop the city's long-term plan for its parks system. For the last four years, I've brought that experience to the Three Rivers Park District Board, working to make our regional parks stronger, safer, and more accessible.
District 3 faces a specific challenge: residents pay into the park system, but there's no easily accessible premier park within our boundaries. A core part of my work has been making sure that investment comes back to the people who fund it — through partnerships with cities like Sochacki Park in Robbinsdale and MAC Park in Crystal, priority program registration for district taxpayers, and creative new ways to bring park amenities closer to home.
In my professional career, I'm a consultant in the financial industry. I manage complex projects, oversee large budgets, and provide executive-level oversight — the same discipline I apply to stewarding public dollars on the board. My approach is non-partisan and professional: I'm focused on results residents can see, not politics.
I'm proud of what we've accomplished, and there's more to do. One initiative I'm especially committed to is Outdoor School for All, which I'd encourage you to read more about below. I'd be honored to continue serving District 3.
About the District
District 3 includes all or parts of Brooklyn Center, Brooklyn Park, Crystal, Golden Valley, Robbinsdale, St. Anthony, and St. Louis Park
Outdoor School For All
Background
Some Minnesota kids grow up outdoors. But for others, the first real taste of the outdoors comes in fifth or sixth grade — a few days away at a camp somewhere out in the middle of nowhere, doing the kind of things you can't do at home. For me, that place was Whitewater State Park, on a trip with my fifth-grade class. It was the first time I went on a hike, the first time I went fishing, the first time I slept in a sleeping bag, and the first time I spent a full week outdoors with no TV. That trip woke up a love of nature that has stayed with me ever since.
That experience is exactly what Outdoor School for All is meant to protect. Outdoor School for All is a funding mechanism through the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources that provides state funding for program fees, transportation, and teacher stipends to ensure every student in the state has the opportunity to experience an accredited overnight Outdoor School Program. The goal is simple: more kids building a lasting connection to the outdoors, including kids whose access today is determined by race, income, ability, or zip code.
Years later, as a parent, I found my own way back. For six years, my family has attended Family Camp at the Wolf Ridge Environmental Learning Center in Finland, Minnesota — hiking, learning, and spending real time outside together. We started when my kids were three and six. Wolf Ridge is one of the five programs Outdoor School for All supports.
It's also a three-and-a-half-hour drive from the Twin Cities.
That distance is the problem I want to solve. Three Rivers Park District shares the same mission Wolf Ridge and Outdoor School for All are built on: getting more kids outdoors. As Parks Commissioner for District 3, I connected Three Rivers staff with the leadership of the Outdoor School for All initiative, recognizing how closely the two organizations' goals aligned.
I then helped put participation in the program on the district's legislative agenda and have been steering the conversation toward how Three Rivers can use — or build — the right assets to bring this kind of overnight, immersive outdoor learning to suburban Hennepin County.
The vision is straightforward: a child in District 3 shouldn't have to ride a bus for three or four hours to discover the outdoors. With the right partnership, that experience could be less than a half-hour away. The work has been introduced, but it isn't finished — and seeing it through is a big part of why I am running again.