Cindy Gonzalez
OMAHA — Armed with an initial $3 million in public funds, Nebraska has now fully launched a new regional approach to economic development that organizers hope will accelerate growth and sharpen the state’s competitive edge.
On Wednesday in Omaha, the last of six regional teams had an inaugural meeting and started planning a signature project for the largely urban four-county area in and around Nebraska’s biggest city.
K.C Belitz, director of Nebraska’s Department of Economic Development, called it the “big swing” — a unique initiative to be shaped by regional needs, aimed at attracting young professionals and boosting local economies.
Organizers expect at least another $3 million in matching private investment to help communities carry out kickoff projects that they said could range from a public amenity to a youth-centered or affordable housing effort.
‘Night and day’ different
The state’s other five regional teams over the last three months already held their respective introductory meetings for what is dubbed the “6 Regions, One Nebraska” three-year initiative.
Belitz said the longer-term goal is to build a culture where neighboring communities combine assets, energy and ideas to meet challenges of an economic development era he said is “night and day” different from that of 20 years ago.
“It’s time to think regionally about this work,” he said.
Financial incentive
The state’s initial $3 million investment, to be matched by private dollars, will help provide financial incentive for each of the six regions to create a regional project in one of the following areas: Resident recruitment; youth engagement; entrepreneurship; technology; infrastructure, a selected regional project.
Each of the six regional teams is centered around one of the state’s community college districts and is led by a paid “navigator” who will work with co-chairs to organize meetings of community partners.
While each region is tasked with strengthening its own area, the end result should be a stronger Nebraska, said Dana Bradford, co-chair of the Omaha area region, based at Metro Community College.
“There are 50 states, all competing to retain and recruit people,” said Bradford, chief executive of C3 Brands. “It’s about competing outside the borders of Nebraska.”
Underlying the effort, organizers said, is the urgency to address gaps including the 50,000 to 80,000 jobs open in Nebraska and the shortage of affordable housing and child care services.
Alarming disparity
Wednesday marked the first gathering of the 100 or so people representing business, education, nonprofits and other segments of the Metropolitan Community College region of Douglas, Sarpy, Washington and Dodge Counties.
Fremont Mayor Joey Spellerberg chairs the region with Bradford. They were joined at the daylong session, held at Metro’s Fort Omaha campus, by speakers including Randy Schmailzl, president of Metropolitan Community College and Bryan Slone and president of the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce & Industry.
Josie Schafer, a data expert who heads the Center for Public Affairs Research at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, provided a statistical overview of demographic, income, education, workforce, housing and other trends in the region.
Data-driven graphics reinforced, for example, a shortage of licensed child care providers, which can be a turnoff in luring a workforce.
The MCC region actually fares better than others in the state, with 68,196 spots for 69,077 children under age 6. That compares to 6,302 spots for 12,219 preschoolers in the Northeast region and 3,017 spots for 6,254 kids in the Mid-Plains district.
“We need spots. I need choice. We don’t have enough even in the Metro region,” said Schafer.
Bradford was particularly alarmed at a graphic that showed median household incomes in North and South Omaha far below the rest of Douglas County ($35,711 for North and $42,487 for South, compared to $83,651 for the remainder of the county).
“This defines the problem for me,” he said. “At the end of the day we have to grow wages and jobs. There’s no way we win if North Omaha, South Omaha or rural communities” have such disparate incomes.
ARPA funds launched initiative
The DED and Nebraska Chamber are overseeing the 6 Regions, One Nebraska effort, which was funded by $3 million in seed money from American Rescue Plan Act funding. Gov. Jim Pillen, who requested the allocation from the Legislature, is to meet with the working team of each region twice annually.
“At the end of the day we have to grow wages and jobs. There’s no way we win if North Omaha, South Omaha or rural communities” have such disparate incomes.
– Dana Bradford, co-chair of the Metropolitan Community College regional team
Slone said in an interview that the initiative builds upon Blueprint Nebraska, a far-reaching statewide planning effort in 2018-19 that laid out strategies to grow the state’s population and economy.
He said the blueprint still stands, but execution of strategies has been difficult, in part because of differing conditions in towns across the state. He foresees more success with a regional approach.
“This is about execution, the how-to,” said Slone.
An example of what a region might do better than a single town, he said, is building housing. With a shortage of contractor availability in rural areas, Slone said, a cluster of communities could pool resources and guarantee ongoing work that would make it more alluring for a contractor to bring a crew to town.
“It’s scope and scale,” said Slone.