Me’Lea Connelly is leading efforts to redirect financial control and growth into historically underserved communities, contributing to community development and fostering racial economic justice. The founder of Blexit, a grassroots nonprofit that worked to boycott extractive systems that harm Black communities, went on to create the Village Financial Cooperative: a Black-owned credit union. The goals of the organization are to directly involve impacted communities in their finances and eliminate larger exploitative systems. This group is working towards “regenerative finance” to put control and capital into the hands of historically underserved communities to foster sustainable development. This would allow communities to reclaim their finances and counteract systems of power, specifically by stopping the removal of natural resources, discriminatory banking and housing processes, and growing sustainable initiatives. This project has provided BIPOC communities with tangible solutions and substantial hope for the future.
