A new organization seeks to meet the needs of Omaha’s neighborhoods and grow their residents in to leaders.
ONE Omaha grew out of planning by the United Neighborhood Alliances of Omaha Task Force. Mike Battershell was chairman of that Task Force. He says the ONE Omaha initiative wants to identify what neighborhoods have in common, what’s been successful for them, and what opportunities they have.
ONE Omaha also wants to facilitate the development of neighborhood leaders.
"A healthy neighborhood association has a leadership structure that contains multiple individuals, as well as board members and other people doing specific tasks, and how do we encourage and develop that. So our plan is to have some mentorship available across different neighborhood associations, as well as identify or create some additional leadership opportunities."
Other goals for ONE Omaha’s first year are to create a neighborhood advocacy program, and improve communication between neighborhood associations and the city.
Battershell says the ultimate outcome is to have engaged leaders throughout Omaha who have a vested interest in their neighborhoods.