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.
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.