Archives: Team

I joined Nexus in 2021 and serve as the Development Manager. In development, I see my role as an opportunity to push philanthropy to do better, and to create change at the intersection of wealth and racial justice.

In my role as Director of the Open Road Fund—a $50 million initiative to redistribute wealth to Black communities across Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota—I work alongside a dynamic team to guide investments that prioritize economic justice, shared power, and community-rooted solutions. I believe in challenging outdated systems and creating new paths that honor how our communities live, work, and support one another.

In my role at Nexus, I serve as the Cooperative 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.

As Director of the Shared Ownership Center at Nexus, I help develop and implement strategies of community wealth building. Taking an ecosystem-wide approach, I work with an array of partner organizations to create a more inclusive and sustainable economy. I specialize in providing technical assistance to real estate investment cooperatives, nonprofits and worker co-ops. Our goal is to create democratically governed enterprises that are vehicles for community self-determination and shared economic benefits.

I joined Nexus in the spring of 2018. In my time at Nexus, I’ve worked across programs, communications, and development. Currently, I serve as the Accountant.

As the Vice President of Operations and Culture, I provide strategic planning, alignment, and oversight of the organization’s administrative functions and staff, including communications, facilities, fundraising, and IT. At the core of my work is ensuring these areas making up the organization’s internal infrastructure align with our vision, mission, and programs. I do this by designing and maintaining systems in such a way that the systems reflect Nexus values and center the people most impacted by them.

Nonkululeko Shongwe, or Nkuli, is a facilitator and cooperative enthusiast. She works at Nexus Community Partners as the Community Wealth Building Director, where she leads the North Star Black Cooperative Fellowship, a space dedicated to bringing together Black-led cooperators and collectives and grounding them in the history of Black cooperative economics. North Star empowers Black communities to reclaim the legacy of Black cooperative practices and build on efforts centered on liberation.

I have had several roles at Nexus Community Partners since 2013, and now serve as the director of Human Resources and Organizational Culture.

Repa serves as Founder & CEO of Nexus Community Partners, a Community Building Intermediary that works at the intersection of community building and community development to achieve equitable community growth. Repa has 35+ years of experience in community-based leadership, leadership guidance, creative institution building, wealth-building strategies, organizational leadership, and systems change work. He is recognized locally and nationally as an innovative and visionary leader, and heads up Nexus’ work with regional and national partners.

I am a VP of Programs & Strategies at Nexus Community Partners. Previously at Nexus, I led the Open Road Fund, which is designed to redistribute $50 million to the Black community in Minnesota, North and South Dakota. I also developed and led the North Star Black Cooperative Fellowship, a seven-month program that connects participants with the rich history of cooperative economics in the Black community, while receiving technical skills and support for emerging cooperative business ideas. I actively support the practices and models of cooperative ownership of land, labor and housing. My mission is to uplift the resources needed to unleash self-determination, freedom and our legacy of Black Economic Cooperation.

Prior to joining Nexus in 2013, I directed the media justice and community-building efforts at Main Street Project and was co-founder of S.P.E.A.C., an eight-month community organizing training with Hope Community in the Phillips neighborhood of Minneapolis.

In addition, I chair the Partnership in Property Commercial Land Trust board, was an organizer on the national campaign to expand low-power FM radio, and was a founding advisory board member of KRSM Radio.

I studied education at Minneapolis Community & Technical College and African and African American Studies at the University of Minnesota.

I joined the organization in October 2015 and am now the program director for the Boards and Commissions Leadership Institute (BCLI), Nexus initiative to train, place and support people of color and other underrepresented community members on publicly appointed boards and commissions in the Twin Cities region.

I joined Nexus in April 2008 and currently serve as the Senior Director of Advancement and External Relations. It’s a great position that allows me to be involved in all of our amazing programs.