Reparation Generation is helping Black Detroit residents purchase a home and trace their ancestral roots.

A growing reparations initiative in Detroit, Michigan, is helping Black residents access funding for homeownership and trace their ancestral roots.

After appointing its first executive director, Christian Harris, last year, Reparation Generation — a group dedicated to building Black wealth and supporting data for a potential federal reparations program — is expanding its impact. The organization recently selected six new recipients for its third round of homeownership grants, with each receiving $25,000 in down payment assistance, home-related expenses, and genealogy research support.

“I’m looking to build a legacy through home ownership and build generational wealth,” Stephanie Coney, a 2023 recipient, told the Detroit Free Press. “What better way to do it than with home ownership?”

The program helped Coney overcome the challenges of buying a home and achieve a major milestone. Along with purchasing her first house, she was able to trace her family lineage back to the late 1800s and learn just how close her ancestors were to slavery.

“You’re the recipient for not just you, but for your ancestors who paid the price for you to be here,” Coney said.

Founded in 2020 after George Floyd’s murder, Reparation Generation is a national nonprofit helping Black descendants of enslaved people in metro Detroit achieve homeownership and trace their ancestry. Initially self-funded, it now raises money from individuals, foundations, and corporations, redistributing wealth from those who’ve benefited from systemic harms to Black homebuyers.

One contributor, Joni Tedesco, a white Detroit native, saw her family build generational wealth through her father’s military service and the GI Bill — a privilege often denied to Black veterans, contributing to a lasting racial wealth gap. After learning about Reparation Generation last year through a church group, she became actively involved, hosting home meetings to raise awareness and, with her husband, Jim, contributing monthly to the organization’s $25,000 homeownership grants.

“This really struck home to me, the whole idea of helping with reparations in a way that helps provide people the opportunity to obtain housing,” Tedesco said.

Since 2022, 12 metro Detroit residents have become homeowners through the program. The third-round application ran from Sept. 1–10. Applicants must be U.S. citizens, Black descendants of enslaved people (with ancestry traceable in the 1870–1900 census or linked to the South through the 1940s), identify as Black in the 2020 census, reside in Wayne, Oakland, or Macomb counties, and commit to buying a home in the area.

Accepted applicants complete orientation, including homebuyer education and a financial readiness assessment, and apply via an official link. Applications are sorted by Detroit median family income to ensure income diversity, then randomly selected within categories. Selected participants schedule genealogy and financial consultations, while others join a waitlist. Enrollees have 120 days to purchase a home, after which the $25,000 grant is wired to an escrow account. Participants also commit to two years of program evaluations.

“Families will see a different future for themselves and for their children and I think that it will also have a broader impact on the community,” said Glenda Price, a Reparation Generation’s board member.