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Council adopts Juneteenth resolution and hears presentation on Nexus Community Partners’ Open Road Fund
Summary
Saint Paul City Council adopted a resolution recognizing Juneteenth 2025 and heard a presentation from Nexus Community Partners about the Open Road Fund, a program offering $50,000 wealth‑building gifts to Black Minnesotans in Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota.
The Saint Paul City Council adopted a resolution acknowledging Juneteenth 2025 as an annual celebration of Black liberation and heard a series of presentations from Nexus Community Partners about its Open Road Fund.
Councilmember Johnson sponsored the resolution and invited Nexus leaders to speak. "For many of our viewers who may be tuning in today, Juneteenth is also known as Freedom Day or Emancipation Day," Johnson said as she introduced Nexus and the Open Road Fund.
Rupa Menka, introduced on the record as president and CEO of Nexus Community Partners, described the organization’s work supporting entrepreneurship, wealth building and community engagement across the Twin Cities and in neighboring states. "One of our prize initiatives is the Open Road Fund," Menka said, describing it as a program that channels philanthropic dollars to achieve community impact.
Lavasha Smith, identified as program director for the Open Road Fund, said the fund was created in response to the 2020 national reckoning following George Floyd’s murder and provides "$50,000 wealth building grants — sorry, gifts — to Black folks across Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota." Smith said the gifts aim to support generational wealth building and self‑determined futures for descendants of the Transatlantic slave trade.
Multiple Nexus staff and supporters appeared and introduced themselves to the council; councilmembers recognized the organization’s work and thanked the presenters. Councilmember Johnson moved approval of the resolution; the council voted "6 in favor, no one opposed," and adopted the resolution.
The council acknowledged the Open Road Fund’s application period opening the next day and encouraged eligible applicants to apply via Nexus’s website. The resolution and the presentation were presented as a way to both mark Juneteenth and uplift grassroots economic‑justice work in the region.
