Open Road Fund Application Changes 2024

After a successful start of the Open Road Fund in 2023, the fund will re-open for applications Juneteenth 2024 (June 19th). We learned a lot in our first year. After engaging with applicants, awardees, our community, and our community advisory committee, we have made the following changes to our application process. 

ID Requirement

This year you will need to include a photo of your ID to apply.  We understand that this will present a barrier to some eligible applicants, and we did not make this decision lightly. We want to ensure that all recipients are a part of and connected to our community–and we want to discourage fake applications from hackers and bots.

The Open Road Fund is specifically for Black people descended from African people who survived the Transatlantic Slave Trade, who also currently live in Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota.  Requiring IDs is one way we are making sure we are reaching this community. 

We will accept a variety of ID types. Types of identification we accept include: State issued ID or Driver’s License, School ID, Tribal ID, U.S. Permanent Resident Cards, and more. To access the full list of documents we accept please click this link. If you have any questions about ID submission, please contact our team at ORFsupport@nexuscp.org. 

Letters of Support

Starting in 2024 Open Road Fund finalists that are randomly selected to participate in round two of the application will need to submit two letters of support. The Letters of Support must both come from Black community members. Only one letter of support can be written by a Black family relative. 

We want to ensure that all recipients are a part of, connected to, and supporting our communities. The letters should be  less than one page, double-spaced. The letter should explain 1) how they know you; 2) why they believe in your wealth building plan; and 3) talk about the ways that you are connected to our shared community. 

Only the 100 finalists that are selected to move forward to the second round will be asked to provide the letters of support. You will not need to submit them during registration, but you should think of a few people to write these letters in the event  you are selected. 

If you have any questions about letters of support,  please contact our team at ORFsupport@nexuscp.org.

Life Experience Question

The Open Road Fund aims to have the most impact possible through our grantmaking process. We want to better understand who in our community we are reaching through our engagement process. This information will be confidential and only seen by staff and our advisory committee members.

This year, we will be asking applicants to share if they have had specific life experiences, such as housing instability, experiences of incarceration, and more. The life experience categories we chose were created by community, our advisory committee, and the Open Road Fund team. When filling out the application, please make sure to select any life experiences that are true for you.

If you have any questions about this addition,  please contact our team at ORFsupport@nexuscp.org.

Bank Account requirements

Starting this year, all finalists will be required to have a bank account and valid mailing address to receive funds. If you do not have one at the time of application, you may still apply. However, if you are selected for an award, you will need to  set up an account before we distribute your gift. 

We understand the complexities and barriers that exist in banking for our community, and we did not come to this conclusion enthusiastically. Unfortunately, we learned in 2023 that other types of accounts—like Chime, Venmo, Paypal, and Cashapp—simply are not built to accept gifts this size.

If you are an adult receiving an award by direct deposit, the bank account will have to be in your name. We cannot deposit the funds into the accounts of family or friends. 

If you are under 18 and selected for an award, we may not be able to directly deposit your award. If that happens We will work with you and your parents or guardians to get your award to you.

The Open Road Fund can only distribute funds to awardees via direct deposit or check. If you have any questions about this or any other part of the application please contact our team via email at ORFsupport@nexuscp.org.

Changes to Group App Process

For applicants applying as a group this year, we are simplifying the application process. Now it is possible for group members to apply using a single application. To apply as a group, all members must be eligible for the Open Road Fund, and you must commit to a single wealth building project that all members will work on together. 

The first person on your group application will be automatically designated as  the primary contact for your group. Unlike last year, each of your group members will not need their own individual accounts. You will be able to share the application login with your fellow group members, so that they can fill out their sections on their own. To make things easier, you should also consider planning a day for all group application  members to fill out the application together, in person.

Our hope is that these changes make  it easier for groups to apply to the Open Road Fund. If you have any questions about this or any other part of the application please contact our team via email at ORFsupport@nexuscp.org.

Ancestry Requirements 

We will continue to ask questions about ancestry on the application, however this year we did our best to make these questions easier to answer. We understand that you may not know the names of specific enslaved ancestors, or you may not have access to all of your family history—that is okay! This year’s question prompts will ask you to focus on connections to your ancestry that you do know. Prioritize telling us about the family history you have that helps you know you are descended from Black people who endured enslavement in the Americas due to the Transatlantic Slave Trade.

If you have any questions about this or any other part of the application please contact our team via email at ORFsupport@nexuscp.org.

Nexus Community Partners recently awarded $50,000 to 99 Black individuals through the Open Road Fund.

Nexus is partnering with Research in Action to evaluate and report on the outcomes of our collective efforts to work alongside the community in developing a model for redistributing unrestricted funds directly to Black people.

In our first report, you can read about the roadblocks to Black wealth, learn more about the first round of applicants, and the successes and challenges faced by the 2023 awardees.

The Open Road Fund will re-open Juneteenth (June 19), 2024 for its second grant-making year.

Download the full report here!  And get a preview below.

“Always the expectation that we need to struggle collectively and intentionally to change the state of affairs. And I know that being in this community for several decades now that has been the charge. One foot in the academy but never totally there but always with the expectation that political, economic, social change can happen and it is in our hands.” – Rose Brewer 

Open Road Fund’s event “Economic Ownership & Power” took place on Wednesday, March 27th, 2024 from 6 – 8 pm CT. In this session, we learned about the history of economic ownership and power, the racial wealth divide, and cooperative economics as a way to build wealth as Black folks in our community.

Speakers

• Dr. Rose Brewer, Morse Alumni Distinguished Teaching Professor and Professor of African American & African Studies, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities
• Nkuli Shongwe, Director of Community Wealth Building at Nexus
• Anisha Murphy, Esq., Owner of Just Law LLC, Adjunct Professor at Mitchell Hamline School of Law, and Vice President of Partnership Development at Community Reinvestment Fund, USA
• Moderator: Danielle Mkali, Senior Director of Community Wealth Building

How do we build economic ownership and power? 

“For me it’s about giving ourselves grace, we have been through so much as a people. They can’t kill us. It goes to show how powerful we are and how resilient we are no matter what society throws at us.” – Anisha Murphy

“Organizing around economic ownership and power is where it starts…It’s going to take multiple strategies for us to get to a place where we can see liberation, where we can see ourselves really exist and reimagine what it looks like to live outside of those systems” – Nkuli Shongwe 

About the Black Wealth Community Education Series

The Open Road Fund at Nexus Community Partners is hosting a Black Wealth Community Education Series from January to May 2024. The series is free, virtual, and live and is available as a resource for all while centering Black people and Black experiences. Topics include economic justice, housing, health and healing, and more. This is a Black-centered space where the Open Road Fund prioritizes uplifting Black voices and safety. Learn more about the Open Road Fund here.

Want to join the next event in the series? Sign up here for Nexus’s newsletter to stay connected!

Open Road Fund is hosting a Black Wealth Community Education Series from January to May 2024, covering financial wellbeing, housing, health and healing, and more. The series is free, open the public, and a Black-centered space. 

Financial Wellbeing: Strategies to Building Wealth took place on February 21st, 2024. The recording and evaluation form are located below.

In this session, we discuss different types of housing structures and how they relate to building Black wealth. Our panelists included Aarica Coleman, Appointed Administrator of the City of Bloomington’s Housing & Redevelopment Authority; Kimani Beard, Co-Founder of Summer Cypher Mpls & Member of Philadelphia Community Farm; and Sharon Garth, Retired Banker and Community Development Advocate. Kirstin Burch, Program Director of Family Housing Fund moderated.

Open Road Fund is hosting a Black Wealth Community Education Series from January to May 2024, covering financial wellbeing, housing, health and healing, and more. The series is free, open the public, and a Black-centered space. 

Financial Wellbeing: Strategies to Building Wealth took place on Thursday, January 25th. The recording and evaluation form are all located below.

In this session, we discuss strategies for building and maintaining wealth with Katherine Lankford of Finance and Affirmations and Kenya McKnight-Ahad, CEO and Founder of the Black Women’s Wealth Alliance. Katherine shares her expertise on life insurance and asset protection, while Kenya returns to talk about money management and spending plans.

Open Road Fund is hosting a Black Wealth Community Education Series from January to May 2024, covering financial wellbeing, housing, health and healing, and more. Financial Wellbeing: Exploring the Impact of Trauma and Triumphs behind Money Habits took place on Thursday, January 11th. The recording, study guide, and evaluation form are all located below.

Katherine Lankford of Finance and Affirmations hosted this panel featuring Kenya McKnight Ahad from Black Womens Wealth Alliance and David McGee from Build Wealth MN.

Guiding Questions

The guiding questions can be used to reflect and set goals around your own individual/family financial goals. The questions are meant to serve as a guide and to help you begin identifying emotions and beliefs around money, and to begin unpacking the traumas that may affect your financial well being. We understand and acknowledge that not everyone share the same experiences when it comes to finances and not everyone experiences trauma as it is related to money. These questions can still be helpful to help identify where money beliefs start and how we pass them down generationally.

As Kenya McKnight-Ahad mentioned in the session, “money is a tool to building wealth. It is not the full scope of how we measure wealth.” We also want to emphasize that there are oppressive systems that were created and some that still exist today that hinders Black folks from building wealth and obtaining financial freedom. As you reflect on these questions, please be aware of how certain feelings and emotions may show up in your body and allow yourself grace to feel them when doing so.

Lastly, we ask that you begin having these conversations with your children, family, and community in a way that feels comfortable and safe for you.

• What was the atmosphere surrounding money in your family?
• What were the specific financial struggles and/or success in your family?
• How did your family discuss or avoid discussions around money?
• Where did that belief come from?
• Where do I want to see myself financially in the next six months, one year, and five years from now?

Introducing the Advisory for the Black Community Trust Fund! These 11 folks are helping the Nexus team shape the Fund. They will be part of designing how the fund operates, reviewing and approving applications, and gathering and incorporating community feedback. Learn more about them here!

Last fall we made a major announcement. Nexus Community Partners was selected by the Bush Foundation to establish a Community Trust Fund that directs $50 million to Black communities in Minnesota, South Dakota and North Dakota over 8 years. We are thrilled for the opportunity to redistribute these deserved resources to everyday Black folks working to provide for their families, run small businesses, tend to their wellbeing, and so much more. And we know that we cannot do this alone. We need your help to decide what Black Wealth Building means, together.

Take the survey here!

What is the survey?

Nexus Community Partners is launching a survey to help inform the Black Community Trust fund. This survey will contribute to how we define Black wealth, and how the fund should be used. This community engagement effort is one important way that will help us include as many Black people’s input into the fund.

We will give five $50 gift cards randomly to survey participants and draw names weekly throughout the survey period. The survey closes January 31st 2023. 

Who is the survey for?

Black individuals from across the MN, ND and SD region are invited to take part in creating this fund. Our values, culture, and ideas about wealth are critical to creating the Black wealth fund we know Black people deserve. All qualifying Black residents in Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota are invited to submit feedback. This includes Black folks who are formerly incarcerated, LGBTQI+, poor, disabled, single, married, and more. By “Black” we are referring to descendants of formerly enslaved Black people (including descendants of Black families who experienced Jim Crow and 20th century redlining). 

“We are part of an ecosystem of community members, businesses, and organizations who have been doing this work for decades,” said Danielle Mkali, Nexus Senior Director “We recognize the generations of Black folks working to create economic justice, the many, Black-led organizations in our community that have been advocating on Black people’s behalf, and the ancestors who persevered in the face of impossible hardship. We thank them for creating the foundation we now stand upon. And we look forward to partnering with them throughout this process. We hope you will participate in the survey today.”

In the tradition of Black cooperation, we are not doing this work alone. Because these funds are for the Black community, we are trusting the community to shape the process. Engagement efforts like this survey, and the Black Community Trust Advisory Council are instrumental in building this fund together.  We are deeply engaging Black community members around the region to design the fund, from the application criteria to decision making structures. One thing is certain though: the Community Trust Fund will go directly to Black individuals and families to build wealth, not to organizations and institutions. 

Learn more about the Black Community Trust Fund.