What does it look like when communities have a real stake in their own future?
Last month, St. Paul welcomed leaders from across the country for New Growth Innovation Network‘s LEAP (Learn. Explore. Activate in Place), a gathering focused on worker ownership, community-owned real estate models, and the ways communities are building wealth, creating opportunities, and keeping more of that wealth close to home.
Nexus’ Cooperative Developer Christina Nicholson, Community Wealth Building Director Nkuli Tabata, and Shared Ownership Center Director Benjamin Tsai joined as speakers, sharing lessons from the work happening right here in the Twin Cities.
Benjamin’s session, pictured here, explored what it really takes to bring a shared-ownership project to life. From the first idea to financing, launch, and long-term sustainability, he walked through the process and the people, partnerships, and resources needed along the way.
As New Growth Innovation Network shared in its recap, the work happening across our region is helping to “expand ownership, strengthen community investment, and create pathways for wealth to remain rooted locally.”
And that’s what makes this work so important. It’s about more than creating opportunities. It’s about who gets to shape them, who has ownership, and who benefits for generations to come.
We’re grateful to have been part of LEAP, to learn alongside others doing this work, and to see the Twin Cities recognized for what’s possible when communities come together to build something of their own.
Read more about LEAP and St. Paul’s recognition.
Photo by Venio Studio