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Roll up your sleeves.
The Volunteer Task Force is launching today. Whether you have one Saturday a month or one hour a week, we'll match you to work that delivers visible impact — protecting the remaining restrooms at Mission Bay and beyond.
Our first visible project
Adopt a restroom.
Following the May Revise (which restored the 5 Shoreline Parks restrooms), 13 of 28 Mission Bay restrooms and 7 of 14 Fiesta Island portable restrooms remain slated for closure under the FY2027 budget. The City Council’s final vote is approaching — contact your council member today to protect Mission Bay Park funding.
The Mission Bay Park Conservancy stands ready to partner with the City, volunteers, and donors (supplies, crews, and a Special Use Permit model like Forever Balboa Park) to keep these facilities open and clean. Whatever comes, we will work collaboratively with the city to help Mission Bay Park.
Mission Bay is one of San Diego's crown jewels. We should be looking for creative solutions to preserve and improve public amenities, not reducing access to them. We're ready to be part of that solution.
How adoption works
With the City's support, we will help in every way possible to protect the remaining at-risk restrooms — whether that's raising funds for supplies so restrooms can remain open on peak days, or providing contract cleaning services where the City budget falls short. Much like Forever Balboa Park and the La Jolla Coast Conservancy, we will seek a partnership with the City — a permit to maintain where they cannot.
One restroom. One sponsor. Daily standards.
Each adopted restroom is paired with a sponsoring donor and a Conservancy-coordinated service agreement with the City. Daily cleaning is performed by City staff or a contracted cleaning service — funded by the donor's gift, never by volunteer labor. The Conservancy handles the partnership agreement, the contracting and oversight of supplemental services, and weekly condition reporting back to donors and the public.
We publish weekly condition reports for every adopted facility. If something is broken, you'll know. If something improves, you'll see it. This is what back-to-basics looks like.
How it works with the City
A Special Use Permit, the Forever Balboa Park model.
The Conservancy will pursue and operate under a Special Use Permit with the City of San Diego — the same legal framework Forever Balboa Park and the La Jolla Coastal Conservancy have used since January 2024 to run volunteer maintenance and beautification work across Balboa Park. The City keeps responsibility for the heavy work; volunteers handle the day-to-day care that keeps facilities open and welcoming. Every volunteer trained, every project pre-approved, every result reported.
Pre-approved projects
Every cleanup, planting, painting, or repair is coordinated with Parks & Recreation in advance. The Conservancy handles training, scheduling, and supervision; the City provides oversight and approval.
Monthly coordination & reporting
Parks & Recreation staff and Conservancy leadership meet monthly. Weekly cleanliness reports, monthly project summaries, and annual hour tallies — all open to the public.
The City retains the heavy work
Major plumbing, electrical, structural repair, hazardous materials, and ADA compliance all stay with City staff. We supplement, never replace.
What volunteers can do under this kind of permit: trash and debris removal, exterior power washing, exterior paint touch-ups, basic landscape work (pruning, weeding, mulching, planting), basic irrigation maintenance, walkway and concrete repair in approved areas, signage, condition reporting, visitor services, and educational tours. Restroom cleaning is performed by City staff or contracted services — not by volunteers.
Sign up — we'll match you to the right role.
Tell us a little about yourself and what kind of work fits your life. We'll be in touch within a week with a specific opportunity. No bureaucracy. No mailing-list spam. Just real volunteer work, operating under our Special Use Permit framework with the City.
Submitting opens an email to info@missionbaypark.org. You'll hear from us within a week.