Hannah Michelle Bussa
NEWS EDITOR
One Omaha recently moved out of the Community Engagement Center on UNO’s campus.
Bri Full, a community organizer and a master’s student in the public administration program at UNO, started at One Omaha this summer as their first Engagement Intern.
One Omaha was founded in 2015 when six Omaha neighborhood alliances came together to develop a needs assessment where they determined that neighborhood leaders lacked the resources available to support and educate themselves.
“That’s where we step in,” Full said. “One Omaha became a program housed under Civic Nebraska, a local nonprofit whose main focus is civic engagement.”
Last month, One Omaha broke off from being housed under Civic Nebraska and became their own nonprofit.
“This gives us more autonomy to grow in the direction we’ve been working toward over time,” Full said. “We have big projects on the horizon, including a free, easy-to-use online learning management system where residents can access educational content on their own time; as well as a mentorship/skill-sharing program that will bring together neighborhood organizers to share community-building tactics, resources and initiatives among themselves.”
One Omaha works to support community members.
“By addressing the lack of knowledge and resources available for residents to sustain a better quality of life, One Omaha empowers community members to make changes in their neighborhoods,” she said. “We do that by offering training sessions that help with increasing knowledge around community building and civic engagement.”
Full said One Omaha just hosted a workshop about Omaha’s City Council and how to make changes to neighborhoods within that system.
“We also help people improve their own grant-writing skills so that their applications are more likely to be awarded to fund their community projects,” she said. “One Omaha meets with city officials and developers to gauge what is happening in regard to the development of Omaha’s neighborhoods. We’re always keeping up to date with new projects the city is working on.”
Full said she assists the Engagement Manager, Alex O’Hanlon, with the administration of One Omaha mini-grants and the Omaha Neighborhood Grants Program, working with community groups to develop their neighborhood project, facilitate workshops and develop their new neighborhood leaders conference.
In 2020, One Omaha worked with 31 neighborhood and community groups, helping them secure more than $20,000 in funding from the Omaha Community Foundation. Full said One Omaha also directly dispersed $8,500 in mini-grant funds to support up-and-coming community organizers’ events and community development projects.
To find more information about upcoming workshops, programming and other services provided to community members, visit oneomaha.org or find them on Facebook.
One Omaha’s new office is at the Joslyn Carriage House, 3902 Davenport St.
“Stop by any time Tuesday to Thursday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.,” Full said.
