We invite you to learn alongside grassroots community leaders, funders, leadership practioners and intermediary organizations as we explore the many ways we practice community leadership. Learning opportunities include virtual gatherings and in-person site visits. In case you missed the Community Leadership Learning Initiative launch session last week, you can listen to the meeting recording here. We…

Community Wealth Building Coordinator Nkuli Shongwe recently returned from a cooperative learning trip to Puerto Rico*. Look out for upcoming blogs about her experience on the island and site visits to local cooperatives, including a hydroelectric cooperative and farming co-op.  Adjuntas, Puerto Rico is lush and mountainous, a striking environment for our first site visit. …

People with deep lived experiences of inequities are actively leading and creating transformation in their own communities, in ways that respect and leverage their cultural ways of knowing and being. The pervasive view of leadership, as extraordinary and hierarchal individuals, reinforces dominant positions of power. Institutions that only rely on this systems-driven analysis often miss…

The Nexus Worker-Ownership Initiative is proud to announce the completion of its first cooperative conversion! Starting in 2020, Happy Earth Cleaning Cooperative is now in business.  Nexus, in partnership with Project Equity, helped provide technical assistance for Happy Earth Cleaning LLC to become an employee-owned co-op.  Over a period of 10 months the previous business…

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE January 9, 2020 Contacts: Theresa Gardella Vice President of Programs and Operations Nexus Community Partners tgardella@nexuscp.org Erin Jerabek Heelan Consultant, WOI Nexus Community Partners erin@erinhconsulting.com New Year Brings Employee Ownership to Happy Earth Cleanin Happy Earth Cleaning LLC is the first employee-owned cleaning company in Minneapolis The new year began at Happy…

*text-based job details are at the bottom* ORGANIZATION OVERVIEW:  Nexus Community Partners is a community-building intermediary whose mission is to “build more engaged and powerful communities of color by supporting community-building initiatives and foster social and human capital.”     POSITION SUMMARY:  Nexus Community Engagement Institute (NCEI) advances and strengthens communities through equity-based community engagement, both locally…

The Nexus Worker-Ownership Initiative and Kendeda’s radical grant making strategy was featured in the Chronicle of Philanthropy! The excerpt on Worker Ownership is below and you can read the full article here. “Some grant makers, including the Kendeda Fund, which was founded by Diana Blank, the former wife of Home Depot co-founder Arthur Blank, have…

Title: Director of Finance Salary Range:  $82,000 to $90,000 Position Closes: Open until filled Department: Admin & Operations Hours: Full-time, 40 Hours Start Date: January 2020 Reports to: President and CEO Classification: Exempt, Salaried Location: St Paul, MN   Download job description here  ORGANIZATION OVERVIEW:  Nexus Community Partners is a community-building intermediary whose mission is…

For Nexus Community Partners’ 15th anniversary, Director of Community Wealth Building, Elena Gaarder, reflects on creating wealth in communities of color, working with private businesses to transition to cooperatives, and imagining abundant communities.  Words by Nichelle Brunner • Downloadable Version When Elena came to Nexus, there was a central question being asked: how to better create…

Nexus Community Partners and the Saint Paul Area Chamber of Commerce (SPACC) are partnering to host an event to highlight options for retiring business owners to sell their enterprises to their employees. Businesses transitioning to employee ownership are a trending alternative in business succession. Two thirds of small businesses listed for sale never sell, and…