North Omaha leaders to present needs at annual community summit
State and local leaders are currently deciding where to channel American Rescue Plan Act dollars. On Saturday, North Omaha community leaders will present plans for transformation, laying out what they believe are needed investments in infrastructure, health care and more. For decades, the Urban League of Nebraska has been a center of workforce development and education for North Omaha. Acting CEO Wayne Brown said it was a pivotal moment for workers there. “It’s kind of a tale of two cities,” Brown said. “You have these people coming in who are unemployed or underemployed, and then we have the opportunity to grow with such a low unemployment rate, trying to connect those people to jobs and training to get the jobs that are available. ” Brown said he would like to see more wraparound services like better access to transportation and improved health care. “Before they can move into a job, we have to make sure they are safe, happy and healthy so we can have this agency to move job,” said Brown. Pete Festersen, who wears two hats as a counselor Omaha City Council and who works for CHI Health, said it was on the table for discussion at the two.”It’s been a big challenge that we’ve seen here over the past two years, throughout the community and in especially in north Omaha, so we’re looking forward to being a partner on that and we have some great ideas in that regard, including a $40 to $50 million child and family behavioral health center on we’re working on,” Festersen said. Candice Price represents the Grow Nebraska women’s business center, which develops small local businesses. “You have people with ideas that have just been written on the back of a napkin, to those who have been in business for 20 years, saying, ‘Now I need a brick and mortar . What do I have to do? “, Price said. “Or, they have to pivot. Now I’m in a brick and mortar situation, now I just need to get all my products online.” A business owner herself, Price said black business owners need a better access to loans and investors to kick-start development in the community.” We are the most supported and the least funded,” Price said. “And now we have the information and access to knowledge and resources, well , we need the money to be able to do that.” Commissioner Chris Rodgers said the county is addressing these kinds of disparities, especially after the health department declared racism a public health crisis in 2020. But that was just the beginning Rodgers said ARPA funding and other federal grants won’t solve all the problems, but they are a welcome boost for areas around the city, including Nort h Omaha. “I think we all realize there are a lot of challenges we face these days that I think my mum and grandma thought I should face, but we still have a lot of work to do” , Rodgers said.
State and local leaders are currently deciding where to channel American Rescue Plan Act dollars.
On Saturday, North Omaha community leaders will present plans for transformation, laying out what they believe are needed investments in infrastructure, health care and more.
For decades, the Urban League of Nebraska has been a center of workforce development and education for North Omaha. Acting CEO Wayne Brown said it was a pivotal moment for workers there.
“It’s kind of a tale of two cities,” Brown said. “You have these people coming in who are unemployed or underemployed, and then we have the opportunity to grow with such a low unemployment rate, trying to connect those people to jobs and training to get the jobs that are available.”
Brown said he would like to see more wraparound services like better access to transportation and improved health care.
“Before we can transition into employment, we need to make sure they’re safe, happy and healthy so we can have this agency to transition into employment,” Brown said.
Pete Festersen, who wears two hats as an Omaha city councilman and works for CHI Health, says it’s on the table for discussion at once.
“It’s been a big challenge that we’ve seen here over the past couple of years, throughout the community and especially in North Omaha, so we’re looking forward to being a partner on that and we have good ideas in this regard, including a $40 to $50 million behavioral health center for children and families that we are working on,” Festersen said.
Candice Price represents the Grow Nebraska Women’s Business Center which develops small local businesses.
“You have people with ideas just written on the back of a napkin, to those who have been in business for 20 years, saying, ‘Now I need a brick and mortar. What should I do? ‘” Price said. “Or, they need to pivot. Now that I’m in a brick and mortar situation, now I just need to get all my products online.”
A business owner herself, Price said black business owners need better access to loans and investors to jump-start development in the community.
“We’re the most supervised and the least funded,” Price said. “And now we have the information and the access to the knowledge and the resources, well, we need the money to be able to do that.”
Commissioner Chris Rodgers said the county is addressing these kinds of disparities, especially after the Department of Health declared racism a public health crisis in 2020. But that was just the beginning.
Rodgers said ARPA funding and other federal grants won’t solve all the problems, but they are a welcome boost for areas around the city, including North Omaha.
“I think we all realize there are a lot of challenges we face these days that I think my mum and grandma thought I should face, but we still have a lot of work to do” , Rodgers said.
