Grant offers up to $50,000 to descendants of slavery

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (Dakota News Now) – The Open Road Fund promises $50 million in grants to be dispersed to black residents of Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota who are descendants of the Atlantic Slave Trade.

On Friday, the Sioux Falls branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) spent the evening at the public library downtown assisting those applying for a share of the funds.

The Open Road Fund is resourced by the Bush Foundation and distributed by the black-led Nexus Community Partners.

Through the fund, 800 applicants will receive a grant of up to $50,000. Each year until 2031, 100 applicants will be selected as recipients.

The only requirement to apply is being a black citizen.

”This has never been done before where an organization has given millions of dollars to directly redistribute to black and brown folks, really, with very little stipulation,” said Chloe Clements, an Open Road Fund Advisory Board member and local NAACP member.

The application for the Open Road Fund involves describing how the funds received would be used to create generational wealth in the black community.

”We are the project, right? Black folks, we are the project. So, if you get the funds, we want you to invest those funds within yourself, within your family, but we want those funds to last for generations to come,” said Sioux Falls NAACP Vice President Julian Beaudion.

After the initial application is submitted, the recipients will be selected randomly.

”We chose to do randomized selection because so many grant processes are biased by the reviewer of the grant application, and also, wealth is defined in so many different ways,” said Clements.

There are no regulations on how recipients must spend their grants, and that’s intentional.

”Often times, that aid is dependent on you doing something. It has to be earned, and there’s a negative connotation with that. The way that this has been done is very self-empowering to make the decisions that are best for you and your family,” said Clements.

The NAACP says the first grants will be dispersed this fall. Although the deadline to apply for a share of the funds in 2023 is July 28, those who do not receive funding can reapply.

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