My Brother's Keeper Alliance

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Transformation 2025 (Opens in a new tab) was first created in 2015 and in sync with the $1.43 billion revitalization plan unanimously approved by the Omaha City Council in 2011. The Empowerment network is the lead facilitator of this plan. The ambitious, long-term, 5-phased project called the  North Omaha Revitalization Plan (Opens in a new tab) is rejuvenating the historic area with affordable housing, home ownership, improved educational outcomes and economic development. Transformation 2025 challenges community leaders and residents to achieve the plans, visionary goals and objectives by 2025 with nearly 8,000 residents providing input on entrepreneurship, home ownership, education, arts and culture. Each year the Empowerment Network hosts the ‘ State of North Omaha Summit (Opens in a new tab)’ where residents and leaders gather to celebrate progress, analyze areas of growth as well as discuss community priorities, data, and collective strategies for the next year. The Summit brought together a wide-range of participants that include residents, business owners as well as the Mayor, School Superintendent, Police Chief and other key decision makers. The revitalization plan is already being seen as a model for other cities around the country (more than 20 cities across the country have expressed interest to learn from and replicate North Omaha’s successes).  Six years into Transformation 2025,  the list of achievements is impressive for the residents of North Omaha:

In talking about his thought process in creating change, Barney stated: “From voting, education, employment, arts, and culture, we worked with organizations and individuals to identify current initiatives and see where gaps were. The housing and revitalization piece was a whole strategy of that, looking at how we bring residents back to North Omaha; how we create a more thriving neighborhood; and how we build on the historic value of the arts, culture, and entertainment district that once existed in North Omaha.”  

Much of the success can be attributed to the strong relationships and trust that the Empowerment Network has built since its inception. “We have been intentional about engaging the community from the start, and we’ve done everything we can to make sure that they’re engaged at every step in the process.” Said Barney. For the last 15 years, Empowerment network has hosted a monthly community meeting where residents and community leaders come together to discuss issues, develop solutions and prioritize next steps. Barney elaborated that “Consistency is key. We didn’t care if 5 or 50 or 500 people showed up. We continued to meet and kept building. Eventually you develop a core group who is committed regardless and will keep pushing the agenda forward. These relationships have been developed and strengthened over 15 years.” The Empowerment network has remained inclusive and open to debate and disagreements. One of the residents who have worked with Barney said, “We haven’t always agreed on everything that was happening within the community.  But throughout all of that, I never had to guess what his (Barney) purpose was, where he saw the community growing or what his vision was for the city. … He always invited everyone to the table — even when some people wanted to flip the table over.”

The years of trust, commitment and consistency paid off during Covid as the Empowerment Network served as the lead convener. “When covid hit we really didn’t know what to do, but we continued to convene. Changing our monthly meeting to weekly with hundreds of people on Zoom.” In addition, the network hosted forums for pastors, small businesses and residents to understand where and how to access resources and opportunities. Each week Omaha’s Health Director provided updates to the network. Omaha’s Mayor supported the Empowerment network to receive a $1 million grant that was distributed to provide crucial mutual aid to North Omaha.  Barney mentioned that throughout the pandemic local trends were even or below national trends with no massive disparities. “This was a result of the trust and infrastructure we had built over 15 years that allowed the mobilization of the existing partners to address the pandemic.” 

During the 14th Annual ‘State of North Omaha,’ 5 years into the 2025 plan, The Empowerment network spends the first 30 minutes on ‘data.’  Hundreds of participants on zoom watch President Barney, as he uses easy to understand language and visuals to talk about the enormous strides made to meet the 2025 goals. Over 50% accomplished (such as 1,100 out of 2,000 housing units built or the graduation rate is now at 80% close to the 90% goal for 2025). Barney highlights areas for improvement, discusses community priorities, and presents collective strategies for the next year.  A statistician is brought on to compare and contrast the data at different levels (zip code, city, state, national, race and age) but in plain, simple language to ensure easy understanding of the data. The most updated 2025 report developed with inputs and ideas of nearly 8,000 residents (4,000 youth & 4,000 adults) contains 30 data visual snapshots, 10 measurable outcomes, 7 areas of focus and 35 strategies. “We try to track everything we can. If you can’t track it you can’t improve it.” Said Barney when asked about how they incorporate data into their work.