I joined Nexus to lead the Worker Owner Initiative (WOI), which is part of Nexus’ Community Wealth Building Strategy. I help companies assess employee ownership as a model for stronger businesses and create employee and community wealth. Our vision is to raise awareness of these models so that business ownership, quality jobs, and community self-determination are accessible to all of us.
I joined Nexus in 2021 and serve as the Director of Philanthropic Partnerships. 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.
I serve as a program manager within the Open Road Fund. I am excited about the idea of wealth building within the Black and Brown community. I am specifically passionate about communities of color owning their labor, building generational wealth, and highlighting the uniqueness and beauty in the ways they cooperate. I am committed to
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 joined Nexus in September 2020 as a Community Engagement Coordinator through Public Allies. I now work as a Program Manager for ROOT (Reclaiming Our Own Time). Growing from the wisdom and work of Rest as a pathway toward liberation and justice movement, the work of ROOT envisions ecosystems of wellness, rest, and rejuvenation for BIPOC changemakers. This work supports BIPOC leaders toward dreaming, reconnecting with self, visioning, and resting as a means to value our gifts and restorative cycles. We also aspire to strengthen and build the capacity of organizations and movements to hold that healing space.
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 and in development. Currently, I serve as the Communications Director. I care about creating powerful written, oral, and visual narratives that tell a story of an irresistible, attainable future.
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.
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 am a Senior Director of Community Wealth Building at Nexus Community Partners. I lead Nexus’ Community Trust Fund, which is designed to redistribute $50 million to the Black community in Minnesota, North and South Dakota. Previously at Nexus, I 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. In addition to the Community Trust Fund, 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.