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Our Favorite Memories from 2024

Life moves fast. Let’s take time to reflect and appreciate where we have been! From cohorts to conferences, we worked together to build engaged and powerful communities of color this year.

In 2024, we…

Launched ROOT (Reclaiming Our Own Time)

All people deserve joyful and abundant lives filled with the rest that our bodies, minds, and spirits need. We hosted four Reimagine Rest events, two Heal the Healers workshops, and a first-of-its-kind Continuous Sabbatical Fellowship, welcoming 10 new fellows!

Distributed $5 million to 100 Black families across Minnesota and the Dakotas

We celebrated Juneteenth by opening our second round of applications for the Open Road Fund!

“I am so excited that we have 100 more Black families that will be receiving $50,000 Black-wealth gifts by the end of 2024. This second round will bring the total Open Road gifts to $10 million! Having 200 Open Road Black families across MN, ND, and SD is a good thing for all of us. During these horrific and dark times it brings me some peace knowing that these gifts can be transformative in helping our communities to continue to stay strong!” — Danielle Mkali, Senior Director of Community Wealth Building

Introduced the LOCAL Fund

This spring, the Shared Ownership Center @ Nexus (SOC@N) launched the LOCAL Fund in partnership with the City of Saint Paul. The LOCAL Fund aims 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 now and for generations to come. Applications are still open!

Co-hosted the National Conference on Black Cooperative Agenda

In June, Black cooperators from around the country gathered to learn and discuss the power of Black cooperative enterprises. Several Nexus staff members spoke at the conference, including CEO Repa Mekha, who reflected, “If we don’t ground ourselves in our own sense of culture and cooperation, then we will teach people in the wrong way.”

Graduated North Star Cohort 7 This Spring…

And launched Cohort 8 this fall! Our North Star Black Cooperative Fellowship is a place for Black-led cooperatives, collectives, housing, commercial and land trusts to learn and reclaim the history of Black cooperative economics through seven months of co-learning, storytelling, and skill-building. We love getting to know new cooperators each cohort, and have been honored to work alongside our 112 alumni (and counting)!

Graduated BCLI Cohort 11 and Started Recruiting for Cohort 12

Our Boards & Commissions Leadership Institute took a half-year pause to look back on how far we’ve come, celebrate all we have achieved together, and reflect on our future programming. We are so proud of our 157 alumni we have supported these past 11 years, and we’re feeling refreshed and ready for our 2025 cohort!

Co-hosted the St. Paul Shared Ownership Equity Summit

This fall, SOC@N and North Star co-hosted the Saint Paul Shared Ownership Equity Summit with the City of Saint Paul, Project Equity, and Living Cities. About 65 people attended, Mayor Carter and Living Cities President Joe Scantlebury had an engaging “fireside chat,” and Council President Mitra Jalali made it to the summit at the end of the day!

Talked Philanthropy with NDN Collective

At the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits and Minnesota Council on Foundations Joint Conference in October, Repa had a thought-provoking conversation with Nick Tilsen, CEO of NDN Collective. They laid bare the hard work ahead and revealed what is possible when philanthropy takes risks and trusts in the authority and expertise of community-centered organizations.

And Hit a Milestone Anniversary!

Nexus turned 20 this year! Throughout 2025, we will be offering opportunities for you to join us for online learning and in-person celebrations of all that you have helped make possible as part of Nexus. We can’t wait to celebrate with you!