Since April, our Shared Ownership Center has been hosting business-planning webinars that break down the key components in running a successful business. From concept to plan, we’ve gone over structure, finances, and fundraising, with a focus on creating and transitioning to a worker-owner cooperative business. Thank you to everyone who’s been along for the journey!
Our final webinar, Application for the LOCAL Fund, is Thursday, June 26, 3-4:30 pm CT. Now that you know the business planning basics, it’s time to learn how the LOCAL Fund can help! We’ll review the parts, process, and timeline for the application. Fill out the form below to register!
Business Planning Webinar Series Session 7: How to Apply for the LOCAL Fund
Thank you for your interest in the Shared Ownership Center's Business Planning Webinar Series. Registration for this session is now closed.
This project is being supported, in whole or in part, by federal award number SLFRP1612 awarded to Nexus Community Partners by the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
Join us Wednesday, June 18, 3-4:30 pm CT to learn the Five C’s of Cooperative Credit, how to shop around for the right loan, and go over a sample loan application!
Each session in our Business Planning Webinar Series builds upon the last and is aligned with the LOCAL Fund application. By the end of the series, if the LOCAL Fund is a good fit for you and your team, you will be ready to apply!
Fill out the form below to register for Session 6: Access to Capital.
Business Planning Webinar Series Session 6: Access to Capital
Thank you for your interest in the Shared Ownership Center's Business Planning Webinar Series. Registration for this session is now closed.
This project is being supported, in whole or in part, by federal award number SLFRP1612 awarded to Nexus Community Partners by the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
Join our fifth Business Planning Webinar on Thursday, June 5, 3-4:30 pm CT! We’ll cover everything you need to know about startup costs, revenue, expenses and more.
Each webinar builds upon the last and is aligned with the LOCAL Fund application. By the end of the series, if the LOCAL Fund is a good fit for you and your team, you will be ready to apply! Missed a session?Find the recordings here.
Fill out the form below to register for Session 5: Projections, Sources & Uses.
Business Planning Webinar Series Session 5: Projections, Sources & Uses
Thank you for your interest in the Shared Ownership Center's Business Planning Webinar Series. Registration for this session is now closed.
This project is being supported, in whole or in part, by federal award number SLFRP1612 awarded to Nexus Community Partners by the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
Our Business Planning Webinar Series is in full swing! Join our fourth session, Conversion Basics, on Thursday, May 22, 3-4:30 pm CT. We’ll dive into the feasibility of converting existing businesses into cooperatives and go over the transition process.
Each webinar builds upon the last and is aligned with the LOCAL Fund application. By the end of the series, if the LOCAL Fund is a good fit for you and your team, you will be ready to apply!
Fill out the form below to register for Session 4: Conversion Basics.
Business Planning Webinar Series Session 4: Conversion Basics
Thank you for your interest in the Shared Ownership Center's Business Planning Webinar Series. Registration for this session is now closed.
This project is being supported, in whole or in part, by federal award number SLFRP1612 awarded to Nexus Community Partners by the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
In March, we kicked off our 20th anniversary event series with a celebration of the Boards & Commissions Leadership Institute. Now we’re gearing up for our second event—and you’re invited!
Our next virtual gathering will highlight our North Star Black Cooperative Fellowship and the Shared Ownership Center @ Nexus. Mark your calendar for Community Wealth Building: Rooted in Legacy, Owning Our Future on June 5, 10 am – 12 pm CT on Zoom.
Over the past 13 years, we have been carefully laying the foundation for Community Wealth Building to grow inside and outside of Nexus. Now, in a time of ever-increasing privatization and the erosion of public resources, we are poised to meet the moment. Sharing bounty and abundance is everything.
Our Shared Ownership Center supports local worker and real estate investment cooperatives to change the face of ownership, while the North Star Black Cooperative Fellowship approaches Community Wealth Building from a reparative framework rooted in Black culture. Come learn about our work and how we envision a brighter, more cooperative future!
Guest Speakers:
Amoké Kubat, Yo Mama’s House Founder
Carl Johnson, Storehouse Grocers & Coffee Founder
Joe Vital, East Phillips Neighborhood Institute Interim Executive Director
Nexus Community Partners Event Registration
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Meet Our Speakers
Amoké Kubat
Creative culture bearer, artist, and activist Amoké Awele Kubat is a Minneapolis “Northsider for life” who has been empowering mothers and families since 1987. She uses writing and art-making to speak truth to power and to hold a position of wellness in an America sick with inequalities and inequities. Amoké’s co-op, Yo Mama’s House, is an art and healing space for mothers of all ages.
Carl Johnson
Carl Johnson is a dynamic and visionary leader serving as the Lead Pastor of Faith City Church in St. Paul, MN. He is a key figure in addressing food insecurity and fostering economic development in St. Paul. Pastor Johnson is the driving force behind Storehouse Grocers and Coffee, an innovative initiative that functions as both a grocery store and a community hub.
Joe Vital
Joe Vital is an Indigenous land defender, leader, and speaker from South Minneapolis. An enrolled member of the Red Lake Nation and a proud Mexican focused on bringing Indigeneity to the mainstream, Joe is committed to promoting the protection of Turtle Island and elevating voices of Indigenous stakeholders. He serves as the Interim Executive Director of East Phillips Neighborhood Institute.
Our friends at CoMinnesota, Minnesota Farmers Union, the University of Minnesota Morris, and West Central Initiative are launching the first-ever Minnesota Cooperative Summit this summer! Hear from speakers (including Nexus!) on how co-ops have been powering progress for generations.
Nkuli and Christina from our Community Wealth Building programs will lead the session, “How Co-ops Can Increase Opportunities for Everyone.” We’ll share an overview of our North Star Black Cooperative Fellowship and Shared Ownership Center, reflecting on how co-ops have been used to create wealth for communities that have historically been left out—and how they are a tool today.
Minnesota has a rich history of cooperative success, from rural electricity to credit unions to local food systems. The Minnesota Cooperative Summit is your chance to connect with this legacy, learn from innovators, and be part of the next chapter in cooperative development.
You don’t need to be in a co-op to attend. This event is designed to inspire newcomers, spark partnerships, and bring fresh energy to the idea of shared ownership. This event is for YOU if you’re:
Interested in launching a community-based project
A leader seeking new ways to retain employees or pass along your business
Curious about models that center people, not just profit
We kicked off our LOCAL Fund webinar series with a business plan breakdown and co-op creation guidelines. Our third session, Finance 101, takes place Thursday, May 8, 3-4:30 pm CT on Zoom. Learn the ins and outs of budgeting, balance sheets, and cash flows!
Each webinar builds upon the last and is aligned with the LOCAL Fund application. By the end of the series, if the LOCAL Fund is a good fit for you and your team, you will be ready to apply!
Fill out the form below to register for Session 3: Finance 101.
Business Planning Webinar Series Session 3: Finance 101
Thank you for your interest in the Shared Ownership Center's Business Planning Webinar Series. Registration for this session is now closed.
This project is being supported, in whole or in part, by federal award number SLFRP1612 awarded to Nexus Community Partners by the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
The LOCAL Fund is a collaboration between Nexus Community Partners and the City of Saint Paul to build community wealth, anchor jobs locally, grow the local economy and tax base, and center a cooperative ownership culture that uplifts St. Paul residents for generations to come. What exactly is shared ownership, and why is it so powerful? Hear from Nexus’ Christina Nicholson and Repa Mekha in the video below!
What’s a real estate investment co-op, you ask? Real estate has long been used as a tool to extract wealth from neighborhoods. These types of cooperatives, nicknamed REICos, flip the script and share the benefits of ownership locally.
Over lunch, we chatted about what REICos can accomplish together and our dreams for a future where more neighbors own their neighborhoods. Thank you to all who gathered with us!
Taproot Investment Cooperative
South Como Co-op
Midway Investment Cooperative
East Phillips Neighborhood Institute
Metropolitan Consortium of Community Developers
Cooperative Development Services
African Career, Education, and Resources, Inc.
Local Initiatives Support Corporation
Shared Capital Cooperative
And many thanks to McKnight Foundation for sponsoring the event!
Make your co-op dream a reality with the Shared Ownership Center @ Nexus! The second session in our spring webinar series takes place Thursday, April 24, 3-4:30 pm CT on Zoom. We’ll cover how to assemble your dream team, start planning your bylaws, and accessing an attorney and technical assistance.
Each webinar builds upon the last and is aligned with the LOCAL Fund application. By the end of the series, if the LOCAL Fund is a good fit for you and your team, you will be ready to apply!
Fill out the form below to register for Session 2: Creating Your Cooperative.
Business Planning Webinar Series Session 2: Creating Your Cooperative
Sorry, this form is not available.
This project is being supported, in whole or in part, by federal award number SLFRP1612 awarded to Nexus Community Partners by the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
Our Shared Ownership Center is hosting a free business planning webinar series for cooperatives this April through June! Sessions will take place (almost) every other Thursday, 3-4:30 pm CT, on Zoom. Each webinar builds upon the last and is aligned with the LOCAL Fund application. By the end of the series, if the LOCAL Fund is a good fit for you and your team, you will be ready to apply!
Fill out the form below to register for our first session, Concept to Business Plan.
Christina Nicholson and Mara O’Neill will guide you through the necessary foundations in starting a business. They will go over how to assess the feasibility of a business plan and different types of cooperative businesses. This will be an interactive session with time for a robust Q&A.
Meet the Facilitators
Christina Nicholson, Cooperative Finance Developer – Worker Owner Initiative
In my role at Nexus, I serve as the Cooperative Finance Developer for the Worker Owner Initiative (WOI), which is part of Nexus’ Community Wealth Building Strategy. I help both start-ups and existing businesses understand the role worker ownership can play in successful owner retirement strategies as well as improved workplace cultures for teams. With solid technical assistance and organizational support, worker-owner cooperatives can grow and perpetuate community wealth by expanding opportunities for local business ownership.
I have been working in cooperatives in Minnesota for 25 years in a wide range of roles, from front-of-house retail to construction to cooperative consulting. In all of my endeavors, the thread has been working to connect communities to each other through common cause. This has been framed for me as a shared economy that questions the normative culture of the unequal exploitation of labor. Rather than focus on what is wrong, cooperatives look to inspire a shared sense of success and equity among community members within the cooperative.
When done well, cooperatives celebrate the unique contributions of individuals while challenging assumptions about how we perpetuate destructive myths around gender, race, and class. I am so excited to be a part of Nexus and look forward to learning from my peers who continue to inspire me with their vast knowledge of community wealth building, leadership, and development of strategic partnerships!
Mara O’Neill, Consultant
Mara O’Neill has over four decades of experience in the field of community economic development providing technical assistance and underwriting loans to new and expanding small businesses. She is also experienced in managing and operating all aspects of a revolving loan fund including loan documentation and closing, perfecting liens on collateral, loan servicing, and tracking loan funds. She currently provides consulting services to small nonprofit organizations in the areas of small business loan program development and management.
From 2011 until 2020, Mara was the Loan Program Director for Metropolitan Consortium of Community Developers (MCCD). Before joining MCCD, Mara was Director of Capital Investments for First Children’s Finance (FCF), a nonprofit organization supporting the business side of childcare, where she oversaw the loan and grant program and developed FCF’s childcare business training program. She was Chief Operating Officer at Neighborhood Development Center, a community–based non-profit organization providing training, financing and ongoing technical assistance to new micro-businesses in Saint Paul and Minneapolis. She also worked for the Saint Paul Department of Planning and Economic Development for 12 years providing financing and technical assistance to small businesses and developers.
Mara has a BS Degree in Economics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and is certified as an Economic Development Financing Professional by the National Development Council, now known as Grow America. She is a recipient of the Top Women in Finance Award from Finance and Commerce Magazine and in 2019 she received the Champion Award from Credit Builders Alliance.
Business Planning Webinar Series Session 1: Concept to Business Plan
Thank you for your interest in the Shared Ownership Center's Business Planning Webinar Series. Registration for this session is now closed.
This project is being supported, in whole or in part, by federal award number SLFRP1612 awarded to Nexus Community Partners by the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
The Shared Ownership Center @ Nexus is hosting a free business planning webinar series for cooperatives April through June! Sessions will take place (almost) every other Thursday, 3:00 – 4:30 pm CT, on Zoom.
Each webinar builds upon the last and is aligned with the LOCAL Fund application. By the end of the series, if the LOCAL Fund is a good fit for you and your team, you will be ready to apply!
April 10: Concept to Business Plan
Learn types of business plans, their key components, and how to get started on making your cooperative dream a reality.
How will you design your cooperative? We’ll cover how to assemble your dream team, start planning your bylaws, and accessing an attorney and technical assistance.
Learn the Five C’s of Cooperative Credit, how to shop around for the right loan, and go over a sample loan application. Please note this webinar is now happening on Wednesday, June 18. It was originally scheduled for June 19.
Now that you know the business planning basics, it’s time to learn how the LOCAL Fund can help! We’ll review the parts, process, and timeline for the application.
This project is being supported, in whole or in part, by federal award number SLFRP1612 awarded to Nexus Community Partners by the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
