We believe that paths lead to our destiny, and when faced with barriers, we call upon our ancestors to guide us on the open road to liberation.

THE OPEN ROAD FUND

Open Road Fund (ORF) is a community fund giving $50,000 wealth-building gifts to Black folks in Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota in order to create tangible pathways to liberation, prosperity, and healing on our own terms.

Managed by Nexus Community Partners, the Open Road Fund returns money directly to Black folks so they can build something long-lasting for themselves, their families, and their communities.

This is our story…

ORIGIN

“It’s not an initiative that comes out of nowhere.”
-Repa Mekha, Nexus’ founder and CEO

Repa Mekha, President & CEO

In 2021, the Bush Foundation announced its plans to redistribute $100 million to Black and Indigenous communities in the Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota regions. Their goal was to address wealth disparities caused by historic racial injustices in the region.

Nexus Community Partners, a Twin Cities-based nonprofit organization, jumped at the opportunity to throw its hat in the race.

“When we heard about the Bush community trust fund, Black staff at Nexus came together to discuss and we decided to apply,” said Danielle Mkali, Nexus’ Senior Director of Community Wealth Building.

Since 2004, Nexus has redistributed more than $20 million in grants to thousands of community leaders, entrepreneurs, and organizations to build engaged and powerful communities of color. Through programs like the North Star Black Cooperative Fellowship, we’ve been able to bring worker-owners of Black-led cooperatives together to live into a future of Black wealth.

Essentially, we knew we had the experience and operational infrastructure to take on a grant of this size and redistribute wealth to the community.

“It’s not an initiative that comes out of nowhere,” said Repa Mekha, Nexus’ founder and CEO, speaking to the purpose behind the Bush grant. “The fact that it’s seeded in acknowledgment of what has happened with our ancestors and the very intentional systemic kinds of policies, practices and barriers…that takes it far deeper than a program, initiative or project.”

This was something Nexus was clear about from the beginning: The opportunity to use this money to address the systemic harms Black people have faced since being brought to this country. Harms that did not end with the abolition of slavery, but that took different shapes in the 160 years since.

This gift, though significant, did not seem like enough to address all that Black folks had endured. But it was a necessary start. And that was something.

After a long interview process, in December of 2021, Nexus was selected as the steward of an unprecedented grant to direct $50 million to Black communities in Minnesota, South Dakota, and North Dakota through what was then called the Community Trust Fund.

PRocess

“This is a community resource, not just a grant.”

— Lavasha Smith, Open Road Fund Program Manager

Lavasha Smith, Open Road Fund Program Manager

Once the money was secured, the work began.

Nexus had many decisions to make and in a short amount of time. It was a new year—January of 2022—and the plan was to launch the fund by Juneteenth 2023. This meant we had 18 months to build the Fund’s infrastructure, team, name, and marketing tactics, all while receiving input from the community on how they wanted the money to be used.

“We knew we wanted an advisory committee that represented the region,” said Danielle Mkali. The hope was to bring together community members representing Minnesota and the Dakotas who would be invested in the fund’s development. “The advisory committee we have is incredible. They have been critically important to coming up with the definition of Black wealth and helping advise on really important decisions throughout this process. They have been an important part of our whole program.”

Once the committee was selected, it began hosting community listening sessions with Black folks across Minnesota and the Dakotas. A top question in many folks’ minds was how the money would be dispersed.

“Maybe we could buy land,” Danielle said, reflecting on the early ruminations on the Fund’s status. “At the end of the day, we decided people would get a chunk of money.”

This looked like $50,000 awards to regular Black folks (not nonprofit organizations) in North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota.

“That number,” Danielle continued, “came up based upon wanting to give as many gifts as we could, and we wanted them to be transformative. $50,000 wouldn’t cover four years of college, but it could be significant towards education. It could cover a downpayment on a quality single-family home in the metro area. It could have a real impact.”

BUILDING BLACK WEALTH

“We’ve learned how important it was to redefine our idea of wealth. We’ve made a very intentional step to define it on our terms. It has so much power.”

— Kirstin Burch, Open Road Fund Advisory Committee Member

Kirstin Burch, Open Road Fund Advisory Committee Member

Though the structure for the Fund was established, more central questions began to arise that we had to address. For one, what did building Black wealth actually mean for the organization? Was it solely rooted in money? Were there other non-monetary components that needed to be considered?

“How do you create a framework and practices for Black folks that is rooted in culture, cultural knowledge systems, and practice as opposed to the traditional wealth-building framework?” asked Repa Mekha.

Again, this went back to the advisory committee and Nexus’ community members. The listening sessions helped to provide the community with an opportunity to expand their understanding of wealth and dream big, together. Soon they came up with a definition that spoke more to the community’s needs.

Nexus’ Definition of Black Wealth

Black wealth is about liberation, restoration, freedom, and creativity to reclaim our mind, body, and soul to heal from ancestral disruption and present-day displacement. To gain our right to self-determination through ownership of what we produce, build or invent for our families and community through our creativity and excellence.

“Our definition of Black wealth speaks to abundance,” said Danielle Mkali. “It can be healing and powerful for all of us. There is a way forward that is not extractive or harmful. Black wealth building could and should be an antidote to the oppressive and violent and harmful ways our economy has treated us historically and today.”

the open road fund

“We all deserve the money.”

— Lavasha Smith, Open Road Fund Program Manager

Dominique Gant, Open Road Fund Recipient

Talaya Jones, Open Road Fund Advisory Committee Member

Tari Sudduth, Open Road Fund Recipient

The hard truth is, Black folks in the Dakotas and Minnesota, as well as across the country, have suffered tremendously at the hands of white supremacy.

Since American slavery’s end in 1865 (and even later in Brazil in 1888), the descendants of enslaved Black people across the diaspora have called for, desired and demanded reparations to repair the centuries-long harms committed against them. This never came, though. What did come was more harm: more institutionalized racism preventing where they could live or go to school, who they could marry, and so much more. Not to mention the constant terror from white nationalists who still contribute to the organized and sporadic violence against Black people each and every day.

So when it came to having an opportunity to speak to these ongoing harms with the development of the Fund’s name and intentions, Nexus took this work seriously, understanding that this grant was not reparations and was hardly enough for all we’ve endured.

Then, in the spring of 2023, the right name came.

All throughout this process, the Nexus team had felt deeply that they were being guided by the ancestors. It was the spirit of the ancestors, alongside the decades-long work of local activists, who set the foundation for Nexus to exist and be prepared to embrace an opportunity of this magnitude.

Though the working title of the fund had been “Community Trust Fund,” Nexus and its advisory committee knew they wanted something that honored those who came before them. Collectively, the group agreed on the name Open Road Fund.

“We believe there are many paths that lead to our destiny. Some may be long, others may be short. When we are faced with barriers to our liberation, we call upon the ancestors who illuminate the way to the open road. The goal of the Open Road Fund is to help Black folks find our way toward healing, well-being and prosperity, on our own terms.” – The Open Road Fund

With the name came the clarity on what exactly the fund was and what it would offer the community.

“The Open Road Fund aims to redistribute wealth to Black communities in Minnesota and the Dakotas in ways that repair the harms of systemic oppression we have experienced throughout the Americas. It offers Black people and our families the chance to create a process for attaining the resources we need to achieve self-determination.

This $50 million community trust fund belongs to the Black Community. We recognize that this is not reparations and $50 million is not enough to correct all the harms done to the Black community over 400 years. However, with the Open Road Fund, Black folks from all walks of life, including the formerly incarcerated, single parents, senior citizens, those living with disabilities, LGBTQ+ and more, can access a tangible path to prosperity and well-being, on their own terms.”

launch

Announcements were made on Nexus’ social media channels and local and national press outlets quickly picked up the story. On Juneteenth, Nexus had a community event celebrating the Fund and proclaimed that it was officially open for applications.

Applicants could be as young as 14 years old and simply had to show that they were residents of either Minnesota, North Dakota or South Dakota; descendants of the Transatlantic Slave Trade; and had an idea for a wealth-building project. The five areas of focus were (1) Economic Ownership & Power, (2) Education, (3) Housing & Shelter, (4) Health, Healing & Leisure, and (5) Individual and Family Financial Well-Being. Applicants could apply individually or alongside family and community members.

By the end of the summer, the Open Road Fund had nearly 11,000 applications. However, the fund had committed to 100 gifts a year, for the next eight years. This meant everyone would not receive a gift. Nonetheless, in September of 2023, the first recipients of the Open Road Fund were selected. $5 million in awards to individual groups of everyday Black folks—not to nonprofit organizations. This was something that had never been done before.

Still, with the news of the first round of awards came pushback from some skeptical community members. Some wondered if the Fund was real, especially since many did not know of someone who had received the $50,000 award.

In affirming the legitimacy of the Open Road Fund, Nexus’ CEO Repa Mekha held interviews with community news outlets and recalled a pivotal moment from one local podcast interview.

“We were in Rochester, Minnesota,” Repa recalled, “and a number of callers said, ‘we didn't get anything.’ A lot of people applied and got a No. I could argue a whole bunch of things or acknowledge the truth. Given our numbers and the probability, there’s gonna be a lot of No’s. That’s not an assessment of your value or worth. But we got to give 100 Yeses in spaces where all we hear is no. That reframing is important. How often do we get to say Yes 100 times?”

This revelation helped put into context the overall impact of the Fund. The Open Road Fund cannot give awards to every Black person in the region. But we can say Yes more than we ever have before.

By June 2023, Nexus was prepared to bring the Open Road Fund to life.

Repa Mekha, President & CEO

“I can do something with this, I can share my ideas, I can branch out. Just knowing that somebody cares about Black people, you know, and not just cares about us, but knows how important it is by showing it.”

- Tari Sudduth, Open Road Fund Recipient

“Having this financial gift helped me out tremendously. I was able to pay off some debt, help out family members, and I was able to go back and get my Serve Safe certificate so that I can operate a kitchen and eventually own my own restaurant one day.”

- Dominique Gant, Open Road Fund Recipient

our vision for

the open road fund

Nexus Community Partners Open Road Fund Team (from left to right): Danielle Mkali, Olivia Funkhouser Reynolds, Repa Mekha, Sherine Onukwuwe, Lavasha Smith, Duaba Unenra.

“I’m most proud when elders take a moment to tell us how thankful they are, that they are proud of us and the way we are doing the work.”

— Danielle Mkali

Danielle Mkali, Senior Director of Community Wealth Building

It is now 2025 and the Open Road Fund is still up and running.

In September 2024, the second round of Open Road Fund recipients was selected. This meant the Open Road Fund had given $10 million in $50,000 gifts to 200 Black folks in the region. The Fund still has at least six more rounds of giving, meaning 600 more people will have the chance to gain wealth-building opportunities for themselves, their families and their communities.

“We’re truly changing people’s lives,” said Katherine Lankford, an Open Road Fund Advisory Committee Member. “It’s allowing people to dream in a way that they have never dreamt. The shock on people’s faces when they understand that they meet that criteria, because we’re always given such a hard time. It’s inspiring. Just being able to get their basic needs met. Going to the dentist to get their teeth fixed. Fixing a crumbling porch. As well as people working a side gig who can fully develop it. It’s really something.”

But it hasn’t all been easy. There are many lessons the team has been accumulating throughout this process.

“We’ve learned a lot about transparency and over communicating what we mean,” said Lavasha Smith, the Open Road Fund’s Program Manager. “People still think these awards are just for nonprofits and not everyday people. We also could have done better in communicating that we’re doing random selection and not reading every application.” This was done with the intention of fairness. The Fund’s team didn’t want people judged by the quality of their writing or their backgrounds. So, they identified a system that would randomly select 100 applications. If folks’ applications were incomplete, the team reached out and extended an opportunity for them to finish. “We wanted to eliminate bias in how we chose people.”

The outcome has been phenomenal. And now the Fund team’s eyes are facing the future. When asked about their vision for the Open Road Fund, Nexus’ goals are rooted in a greater overall impact for the Black community at large.

“We hope that our work will inspire more people to give their wealth away and invest in Black people,” said Danielle Mkali. “And that we know we are all deserving. If we had it our way and it was truly reparations, everyone would receive a gift in our region. We’ve tried to make it as equitable as possible. And to be as accessible as possible. We wish we had 50k for every Black person in the region.”

In reflecting on the progress of the Open Road Fund, and dreaming about what was to come next, Repa Mekha offered a long-term vision, calling on philanthropy to help expand this important work.

“I hope the lessons learned and teachings allow Nexus to continue to build out a model that others can benefit from, that philanthropy can look to, that inspires folks to dream bigger,” he said. “My vision is that there is an endowment, an amount of money set aside so that this commitment doesn’t go away in six years. That this becomes a long-term practice. Whether it’s Nexus or someone else—that this becomes an integrated part of how things are and that it’s wedged in for the long haul and continues to grow.”