Open Road Fund FAQs

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.

This year, 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.

The Open Road Fund aims to have the most impact possible through our giftmaking 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.

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 gift, 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 a gift 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, we will need to deposit your gift into a parent or guardian’s account. We can also mail you a check so you can deposit it into your account yourself.

The Open Road Fund can only distribute funds to gift recipients 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.

This year, group applications must include all group applicant information on one 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 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.

This year, there will be questions about your ancestry during registration. We understand that you may not know the names of your enslaved ancestors, or you may not have access to all of your family history—that is okay! Tell us about what connections to ancestry you do know. Tell us about the family history you have that helps you know you are descended from Black people who survived 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.

The Open Road Fund will accept applications starting on June 19, 2024. The application will close on July 21, 2024. Sign up for our e-newsletter to receive updates, or follow along on Instagram, Facebook, or LinkedIn.

No, you will still need to apply again. The 2024 application will have updated questions. You may reuse your 2023 responses to any of our questions, especially the long answer questions about ancestry and wealth building.

If you would like a copy of your 2023 Open Road Fund application, you can request that by contacting us at ORFsupport@nexuscp.org. We will send you your 2023 application as a PDF.

No, Nexus Community Partners will not publicly name all gift recipients. People receiving funds from us may choose to share their status as a finalist if they wish. After the gift distribution process is completed, recipients can opt in to allow Nexus to share their names. Out of a duty to care for and to protect the privacy of all grantees, especially those under 18, we are not requiring that their names be made public. 

What we will share each year is a report on applicant and recipient demographics and lessons learned from them. If and when Open Road Fund gift recipients decide that they do want to share their stories, we will publish articles and videos about them through our website and social media channels.

Over the next eight years (until 2031), the Open Road Fund will gift $50,000 grants to at least 800 Black residents of Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota.

We are only able to accept electronic applications at this time. We are thrilled to be receiving thousands of applications. However, given this high volume of interest, we are unable to review paper applications. We understand that this is a real barrier for eligible applicants. We encourage people to ask for support from their communities, and we hope to add capacity in future years.

Applicants for the Open Road Fund must be at least 14 years of age. They must be residents of Minnesota, North Dakota or South Dakota. And applicants must be a descendant of the Transatlantic slave trade, including the Caribbean, North, Central, and South America.

When applicants are selected for a gift from the fund, we will verify their identity using a background checking tool. This tool may or may not provide information that verifies an applicant’s lineage as a descendant of enslaved Africans. We are not expecting ORF applicants “prove” their lineage to us. For many of us, due to the violence of enslavement and its aftermath, we cannot identify a specific enslaved ancestor. Instead, what we hold is a deep connection and generations of relationship to Black communities formed during the Maafa, which is a culturally meaningful name for the Great Tragedy of African Enslavement in the Americas. We use Maafa to refer to the historic kidnapping of our ancestors, but it is also called the Middle Passage, The Transatlantic Slave Trade, or Negro Enslavement. We use Maafa instead of these terms because it decolonizes the ways we think about chattel enslavement by centering its impact on our people, not the status of enslavement forced upon us by violence.

What’s important to us is protecting these funds from ineligible applicants who falsely identify as a descendant of enslaved Africans or residents of Minnesota and the Dakotas. We will focus our energy on thoroughly investigating any applicants who give us reason to suspect they are ineligible and have falsified their application information.

The Open Road Fund is open to applicants who are at least 14 years of age, and residents of Minnesota, North Dakota or South Dakota. And applicants must be descendants of the Transatlantic slave trade, including the Caribbean, North, Central, and South America. We are not expecting ORF applicants to “prove” their lineage to us or to name specific ancestors. For many of us, due to the violence of enslavement and its aftermath, we cannot identify a specific enslaved ancestors. Instead, what we hold is a deep connection and generations of relationship to Black communities formed during the Maafa (also known as the Transatlantic Slave Trade).

We will verify the identities of applicants selected to receive gifts using a background checking tool. This tool may or may not provide information that verifies an applicant’s lineage as a descendant of enslaved Africans. What’s important to us is protecting these funds from ineligible applicants who falsely identify as a descendant of enslaved Africans or residents of Minnesota and the Dakotas. We will focus our energy on thoroughly investigating any applicants who give us reason to suspect they are ineligible and have falsified their application information.

The Open Road Fund is for descendants of the Transatlantic slave trade, including the Caribbean, North, Central, and South America. We designed this fund specifically to address the intergenerational impacts of slavery on our people. We refer to Black people’s collective experience of enslavement and oppression in the Americas as the Maafa. We made the decision to focus on descendants of the Maafa because over the 500 years of disaster our people have experienced, we have received little relief or restitution.

You may notice that we use words and concepts from continental Africa, even though the fund is not open to African Immigrants. We do this as a way to reconnect with our ancestry and with the languages our ancestors spoke before enslavement destroyed that connection. It can seem like cultural appropriation, but for us, it’s a way we ground in our lineages and attempt to heal.

We understand that people are frustrated that African immigrants are not eligible for the Open Road Fund–that is valid. African immigrants are our kinfolk. For us, Pan-Africanism is not about erasing differences between African people, it is about Africans banding together to support one another’s liberation as a unified and diverse community. The ongoing impacts of the Maafa is what makes the Open Road Fund’s focus on Black descendants of the enslaved necessary–it is a rare opportunity to stabilize families who share our particular lineage. $50 Million is also not a significant enough amount of funding to truly address the full scale of suffering people of African roots have endured. We can only achieve that by continuing to work together as a people. As we are able we will share grant opportunities for African immigrant communities. Nexus also frequently hosts opportunities that are open to all BIPOC communities. We also welcome invitations to collaborate on projects to secure more funding for all African people in the region. 

The Open Road Fund will use a random selection process to select finalists. Our team and community members will review your registration application. If your application is eligible, your name will be entered into the selection process. We will use a computer program to select 100 people for a gift. After finalists are selected, we will verify their identity and they will be invited to submit their wealth building plans. Finalists will also need to submit two letters of support from Black community members, Our committee will review all wealth building plans and letters of support. Once finalists’ application materials are approved we will move into gift disbursement.

Yes, individual Black business owners will be able to apply on behalf of their businesses. You may only apply to the fund once: you cannot apply for both yourself AND your business. The Open Road Fund’s resources can be used for several wealth-building projects, including housing, education, financial well-being, healing, and economic justice—and we encourage all applicants to identify the area of focus that best suits their path to building Black wealth. The focus here is only building wealth for Black people, households, and communities.

No, non-profit organizations cannot apply. In addition, projects to establish nonprofit organizations will not be considered for a gift. The Open Road Fund goes directly to Black individuals and families to build wealth. We prioritize funding projects that directly contribute to improving impact the lives of Black folks who still face barriers to buying homes, starting businesses, saving for their future, and so much more. We encourage members of our community who have prioritized helping those around them to take advantage of this opportunity to refill their cup, and build a base of financial stability so that their work in community can grow.

Yes. Applicants can apply for the grants individually. However, in order to build Black wealth that endures, we encourage folks to apply together to increase the impact of these grants for our communities.

Yes. These resources can be used for several wealth-building projects, including housing, education, financial well-being, healing, and economic justice—and we encourage all applicants to identify the area of focus that best suits their path to building Black wealth.

No. You may apply every year the Open Road Fund is in operation until you are selected for a gift. If you receive a gift from our Fund, you may not apply again. The Open Road Fund application process will open on or around Juneteenth of every year until 2031.

Yes! Applicants may only receive one grant from the Open Road Fund. Because we expect an abundance of applicants, you might not be selected in the first year. However, you are welcome to reapply in the spring of 2025, or until you receive a grant from the Open Road Fund.

No. There are no income caps or minimums in order to apply for the Open Road Fund.

Building Black wealth allows us to forge paths toward liberation on our terms. It’s the key to rebuilding our communities and reclaiming our right to self-determination. When we have access to an abundance of resources, we can foster collective healing, safety, care, and mutual aid.

No. The Open Road Fund is not reparations. The fund’s resources aren’t enough to correct all the harm done to the Black community over the last 400 years. However, it is a step in the right direction towards cultivating wealth and prosperity.

Since 2022, we’ve worked with a dynamic group of local community members who made up our advisory committee, and who were responsible for designing what has become the Open Road Fund. Nexus staff and advisory committee members hosted information sessions with Black community members in Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota to hear their thoughts on how these resources should be distributed.

The Open Road Fund is a community fund for Black descendants of the Transatlantic Slave Trade in Minnesota and the Dakotas. NDN Collective’s Collective Abundance Fund is for Indigenous people residing within Minnesota and the Dakotas. Both Nexus’ Open Road Fund and NDN Collective’s Collective Abundance fund were resourced by the Bush Foundation as part of an effort to close racial wealth gaps between white communities and Indigenous and Black communities.

Prospective Applicants to NDN’s Collective Abundance Fund have until Friday, July 7, 2023 at 3pm CT to register, and all parts of the application are due July 11th. Learn more on NDN’s website.