Nexus Community Partners

06/01/2026

It’s June, so you know what that means—the countdown to the Open Road Fund (ORF) begins!

ORF is a community fund giving $50,000 wealth-building gifts to 100 Black folks a year to create tangible pathways to liberation, prosperity, and healing on our own terms.

Who’s eligible? Descendants of the Transatlantic Slave Trade who are 14 and older and live in Minnesota, North Dakota, or South Dakota. Learn more at www.nexuscp.org, and stay tuned for ORF announcements throughout the month!

05/28/2026

Get ready: Open Road Fund 2026 launches on Juneteenth! Learn all about the application and get your questions answered at our virtual info session on June 11 at 6 pm CT.

We'll introduce the Open Road Fund and our team, show you how to apply, explain how we select grantees, and cover what wealth-building gifts can be used for. Sign up at https://nexuscp.org/2026-orf-info-sessions/

05/26/2026

Cooperatives are entities—like businesses, companies, or houses—that are owned by the people who use them and are created to meet shared needs. All co-ops are democratically and collectively owned, locally controlled, and designed to cultivate and share prosperity with their communities.

If this sounds right up your alley, join our friends at CoMinnesota for their Co-op 101 session next week!

Join CoMinnesota for a virtual Co-ops 101 session over the lunch hour on Wednesday, June 3rd. This is a space for the co-op curious to learn more about what cooperatives are all about, their tie to the broader cooperative movement, and how they have the unique power and potential to meet this moment. We’ll leave time for discussion at the end of the hour so bring your questions or ideas to this session!

Register for free today 👉https://www.cominnesota.coop/eventbrite/

05/21/2026

In this month's issue of Minnesota Women's Press, Nexus' Director of Community Wealth Building, Nkuli, is featured in "Co-op Real Estate: A Collective Solution." https://www.womenspress.com/co-op-real-estate-a-collective-solution/

And she isn’t the only familiar face in May's Foundation of Housing issue. Our Boards & Commissions Leadership Institute alumna, Jewelean Jackson, is on the cover as a leading activist for unsheltered folks in Minnesota! https://www.womenspress.com/a-conversation-with-jewelean-jackson/

She states, “Housing is a human right. Especially in a country like the United States, where the resources exist to make sure no one sleeps in a car or under a bridge. And yet here we are. I believe in perseverance. I’ve seen legislation pass by a single vote. I’ve seen young people fight back against unfair housing practices and win. I’ve seen what happens when people refuse to give up. So, as long as I’m here, that’s exactly what I intend to do.”

Read her story at womenspress.com!

05/14/2026

Cooperative real estate is at the center of progressive housing solutions in Minnesota, rooted in shared power, sustainability, and belonging.

Our Director of Community Wealth Building, Nonkululeko Tabata, told Minnesota Women's Press, “Rising housing costs, displacement, and racial wealth gaps have pushed communities to seek alternatives to traditional ownership models. Cooperative real estate and housing offer a way to stay rooted, build collective wealth, and maintain community control.”

📰 Read the article at https://www.womenspress.com/co-op-real-estate-a-collective-solution/

05/12/2026

In April, the Shared Ownership Center @ Nexus (SOC@N) hosted a networking event for Twin Cities real estate cooperators and ecosystem partners!

In between bites of hummus, the group discussed common challenges and opportunities this unique community navigates. SOC@N is really excited to see how the real estate cooperative movement grows and continues to expand the largest regional network of real estate cooperatives in the country!


Taproot Investment Cooperative
Northside Investment Cooperative Enterprise
South Como Co-op
Minnesota Consortium of Community Developers
East Phillips Neighborhood Institute - EPNI
African Career, Education and Resource, Inc. (ACER)
NorthEast Investment Cooperative (NEIC)
Asian Economic Development Association
Ignite Businesswomen Investment Group Foundation
Cooperative Development Services
Midway Investment Cooperative
East Side Community Investment Cooperative
CoMinnesota

05/11/2026

How do we evolve local ecosystems for community ownership? Nexus’ Shared Ownership Center Director, Benjamin Tsai, helped answer this question at last month’s Conference in Washington, D.C., hosted by NCRC.

He presented in a panel moderated by the Center for Community Investment, which explained, "Community ownership of land and real estate is gaining momentum as a strategy for building long-term power, wealth, and stability in communities that have been systematically excluded from decision-making and investment. But shared ownership efforts don’t operate in isolation—they depend on evolving local ecosystems made up of actors who connect grassroots visions to broader systems of capital, policy, and infrastructure."

💡Read all about it on our website! https://nexuscp.org/evolving-local-ecosystems-for-community-ownership/

📷️ Left to right: Panelist Oscar Monge (Executive Director, T.R.U.S.T. South LA), Panelist Deyanira Del Rio (Executive Director, New Economy Project), Moderator Gretchen Beesing (Senior Fellow, Center for Community Investment), and Benjamin Tsai (Director of the Shared Ownership Center @ Nexus).

05/08/2026

Nexus is excited for CoMinnesota's 2nd annual Minnesota Cooperative Summit!

Co-ops are a time-tested tool for community resilience and shared prosperity. They’ve supported farmers, families, and entrepreneurs—and they still hold untapped potential for solving today’s most pressing challenges.

Join the summit July 28-29 in Duluth and explore how the cooperative model is being used across Minnesota to build an economy that includes everyone.

Visit mncooperativesummit.org to learn more and register!

05/07/2026

The University of St. Thomas’ Whole Person Health Summit brought together voices across health, equity, and community impact—including Nexus Community Partners!

Our Founder & CEO, Repa Mekha, joined a powerful conversation on nurturing resilience and reimagining systems. The panel highlighted transformative approaches to supporting well-being and organizational change, with Repa sharing Nexus’ growing focus on staff wellness, as well as community changes that have inspired him over the last six years.

Thank you to the Morrison Family College of Health for having us!

📷️ Panelists from left to right: Dr. Darlene Fry (Executive Director, Irreducible Grace Foundation), Odi Akosionu-DeSouza (Director, MN Dept. of Health Equity, Strategy & Innovation), Lori Knutson (Founder, Upstream Solutions), Moderator Eyenga Bokamba (Director, MN Institute for Trauma-Informed Education), and Repa.