In September of 2002, with the encouragement of Mayor Malloy, the Stamford Partnership and the Trust for Public Land convened a core group of interested stakeholders to facilitate the creation of the Mill River Greenway. This original group included Stephen Osman, Chairmen of the Urban Redevelopment Commission, Robin Stein, Chief of the Land Use Bureau and Tim Curtin for the City of Stamford, Ralph Loomis and Diana Lenkowsky from the Stamford Partnership, Arthur Selkowitz representing the Urban Redevelopment Commission, Sandy Goldstein from the Downtown Special Services District, Barbara Irving and Virginia Garvey from the Friends of the Mill River, Martha Burns and Agnes Roberts from the West Side, and Nancy Kafka from the Trust for Public Land.

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The Stamford Partnership and the Trust for Public Land assumed joint responsibility for keeping the group moving. The Trust for Public Land agreed to act as the main fund raising entity while the group established itself.

The Collaborative’s intention is to advance the Mill River Park & Greenway and insure its implementation. The group’s initial work in 2002 focused on creating a working context to advance this basic goal. One year later in 2003, the group became The Mill River Collaborative. In 2006, the Collaborative became a 501(c)3 non-profit corporation. The Collaborative board of directors meets monthly.  Upon incorporation, the original Collaborative members became its initial Board of Directors and Mill River Collaborative began to invite interested park supporters to become members.