FNBO Awards $1,738,000 in Impact Grants

FNBO Awards $1,738,000 in Impact Grants

Grants Support Programs Related to Affordable Housing and Workforce Development 

October 18, 2023, OMAHA, Neb. – FNBO (First National Bank of Omaha) has awarded a total of $1,738,000 in Impact Grants to 90 organizations in Nebraska, Iowa, Colorado, Illinois, Kansas, South Dakota, Wyoming and Texas, announced Whitney Baker, Director of Philanthropy and Giving. The grants support programs dedicated to workforce development and entrepreneurship; affordable housing and neighborhood revitalization; and adult education, financial literacy and security.

"FNBO recognizes that investments in workforce development, education, affordable housing and financial literacy have returns that far outlast a one-time donation,” said Baker. “Through this grant program, our goal is to find community partners working in these areas that not only impact individual lives, but build stronger and more financially successful communities.”

FNBO has transitioned from two grant cycles per year to one combined cycle. This total represents the largest one-year grant amount ever awarded by FNBO. 

Nebraska and Iowa

FNBO awarded $1,143,000 in Impact Grants to 53 organizations across Nebraska and western Iowa:

• $25,000 – AIM Institute (Omaha): Supports AIM’s Advanced Technical Training, a pipeline program leading to various tech careers. Beginning with introductory content and career sessions, participants choose the tech career pathway aligned with their interests and progress to advanced specialization courses tailored to the tech ecosystem’s needs.
• $25,000 – Autism Action Partnership (Omaha): Supports Prosper Workforce Services (PWS), a comprehensive program that offers a range of services to help businesses secure qualified staff and to help individuals with autism enhance and sustain their employability.
• $25,000 – Boys Town (Omaha): Supports the CNA Program, where young people get hands-on experience in this high-demand occupation, giving them a head start on post-secondary education and careers.
• $25,000 – Canopy South (Omaha): Supports the development of four single-family for-sale homes within a qualified census tract in South Omaha targeting 80% area median income (AMI), first-time homebuyers, the emerging workforce and middle-income families.
• $10,000 – Care Corps, Inc. (Fremont): Supports the workforce development and life skill training program, which provides practical skills needed to gain employment and focuses on the soft skills needed to stay employed.
• $30,000 – Center for Rural Affairs Community Capital (Grand Island, Kearney): Supports the Center for Rural Affairs Community Capital to strengthen rural communities through home ownership and small, self-employed business development by offering essential services, including financing, business training, technical assistance and networking to a diverse target market.
• $25,000 – Child Saving Institute (Omaha): Supports the Independent Living Skills programming to provide a supportive transition into adulthood for those youth lacking familial support.
• $10,000 – Community Development Resources (Lincoln): Supports microlending, including working with the ECHO Collective to provide training, loan funds and support to female immigrants wanting to start or own a microbusiness.
• $20,000 – Completely Kids (Omaha): Supports adult education classes to enhance the employable skills of parents and caregivers in areas such as English as a second language, citizenship, GED attainment, computer skills, financial literacy and personal growth.
• $40,000 – Credit Advisors Foundation (Omaha): Supports a program for embedding CAF certified financial counselors into FNBO branches and partner non-profits by providing virtual credit and budget counseling and education to FNBO customers and community partners.
• $13,000 – Deborah’s Legacy (North Platte): Supports residential programming along with educational opportunities, social enterprise employment skills development and support services for women healing from addiction, homelessness and surrounding issues.
• $20,000 – Goodwill Industries (Omaha): Supports the YouthBuild program for opportunity youth, creating a pathway for improving everyday life, job readiness and occupational skills training.
• $20,000 – Grand Island Area Habitat for Humanity (Grand Island): Supports home loan program, which offers qualified applicants a 0% interest mortgage following completion of homeowner education classes and 500 hours of sweat equity by assisting in building their neighbor's house.
• $25,000 – Greater Fremont Development Foundation (Fremont): Supports a revolving loan fund to increase housing inventory and the quality of housing inventory in Fremont city limits.
• $20,000 – Grow Nebraska (Omaha): Supports programming that focuses on allowing underserved entrepreneurs, specifically women and minorities, the opportunity to gain business knowledge and tools, as well as a network of peers to support their journey in creating a successful and long-standing small business.
• $25,000 – Habitat for Humanity of Columbus (Columbus): Supports the construction of safe, decent and affordable housing to applicants who may not have the ability to become a homeowner otherwise.
• $20,000 – Habitat for Humanity of Council Bluffs (Council Bluffs): Supports the elimination of substandard housing by building new affordable units and protecting the current housing stock through repairs.
• $10,000 – Habitat for Humanity of Lincoln (Lincoln): Supports the building and/or rehabilitation of homes in Lancaster County.
• $30,000 – Heart Ministry Center (Omaha): Supports the Fresh Start job training and job placement program to not only match clients with jobs that earn a livable wage, but to provide clients with the necessary job training, life skills and soft skills needed to be successful both inside and outside the workplace.
• $15,000 – High Plains Community Development Corporation (Chadron): Supports the construction of single-family homes for low-income families.
• $30,000 – Holy Name Housing (Omaha): Supports ongoing operational support to sustain the organization in its mission of developing a strong community, one home at a time.
• $20,000 – I Be Black Girl (Omaha): Supports Catalyst, which provides information, support and learnings specific to Black women and femmes looking to start, grow and maintain their businesses, providing an intentional space for Black women and femme founders to actualize their entrepreneurial vision and gain economic liberation.
• $15,000 – Immigrant Legal Center (Omaha): Supports the Refugee Education Program, which provides holistic and culturally effective educational services that empower newly resettling refugees to grow and thrive in their new lives.
• $20,000 – inCOMMON Community Development (Omaha): Supports inCOMMON’s Park Avenue and Walnut Hill Neighborhood Resource Centers, which serve as neighborhood-based hubs where residents access a broad range of workforce, financial, housing, leadership and relationship development programming, including ESL, GED, budgeting, mentorship and homebuyer education.
• $20,000 – Iowa Jobs for America’s Graduates (Council Bluffs): Supports iJAG, which provides a bridge between public education and the world-of-work, offering programming that complements academics by supporting marginalized students to graduate high school and preparing them to look past graduation toward a career that offers fulfilling work and financial self-sufficiency.
• $30,000 – Iowa Western SBDC (Council Bluffs): Supports the Iowa Western SBDC, which provides no-cost, one-on-one technical assistance and educational resources to entrepreneurs and small businesses in Pottawattamie and Mills counties.
• $15,000 – Kearney Area Habitat for Humanity (Kearney): Supports the construction of three simple, decent, affordable homes for and with the working poor in Kearney, Nebraska.
• $20,000 – Kids Can Community Center (Omaha): Supports Bridging the Cliff, a program that assists parents whose income is not sufficient to support a family, but who do not make so little they qualify for government child-care subsidies.
• $20,000 – La Fuente Business Center (Midlands Latino CDC) (Omaha): Supports La Fuente’s Entrepreneurship Program, which provides free education, business training and coaching by financial experts to Latino, refugee and immigrant adults in Omaha, Nebraska, and Council Bluffs, Iowa, that helps them launch, sustain and grow their own small business.
• $25,000 – Latino Center of the Midlands (Omaha): Supports the Latino Center’s basic literacy, English, GED, digital literacy and citizenship classes, serving more than 500 lifelong learners every year, helping them obtain stable, rewarding employment and addressing low levels of educational attainment in South Omaha.
• $20,000 – Legal Aid of Nebraska (Omaha): Supports the Legal Aid of Nebraska’s Housing Justice Project, which aims to prevent housing loss, enforce the right to safe and habitable housing and preserve the right to obtain and maintain housing, all through free civil legal assistance to Nebraskans with low income.
• $10,000 – Lincoln County CDC (North Platte): Supports the mission of the organization to develop and build affordable housing in Lincoln County, Nebraska.
• $20,000 – Lutheran Family Services (Omaha): Supports the LFS Economic Empowerment program, which provides employment support services to help refugees identify goals, recognize their skills and connect with appropriate education and employment opportunities.
• $20,000 – Mercy Housing Midwest (Omaha): Supports low-income residents to live to their full potential by providing services and resources in the areas of health, out-of-school time, financial wellbeing, community involvement and housing success.
• $15,000 – Metro Area Continuum of Care for the Homeless (Omaha): Supports community-wide Housing Problem Solving training to implement best practices for up to 25 direct service providers in collaboration with The Listening Group.
• $30,000 – Metropolitan Community College Foundation (Omaha): Supports adult basic education (ABE) activities (enhanced coaching, tutoring, GED and ESL courses) and Transitional Learning Community (TLC) onboarding to support students with career and educational goals, including Integrated Education and Training, to accelerate career placement.
• $20,000 – Midwest Housing Development Fund (Omaha): Supports technical and capacity-building assistance and access to MHDF loan funds to key partners, resulting in the development of at least five projects to facilitate the creation and preservation of affordable rental housing units in these communities.
• $10,000 – MOMentum (Omaha): Supports assisting unemployed and underemployed moms to find jobs that match their interests, experience, wage expectations and schedules, plus provides ongoing coaching and community referrals (for support such as food assistance, transportation and housing) to make sure mom is successful.
• $20,000 – Nebraska Early Childhood Collaborative (Omaha): Supports NECC’s Business Resource Center for Child Care Providers, which will help grow the economy through small business development and job creation, by supporting the start-up and sustainability of small child care provider businesses essential to Omaha’s children, families, workforce and community growth.
• $40,000 – Nebraska Enterprise Fund (Omaha): Supports training, coaching and mentoring programs to reach underserved micro and small businesses primarily in North and South Omaha and southwestern Iowa with technical assistance, encouraging start-up, early stage and growth of locally owned businesses.
• $20,000 – Nebraska Housing Developers Association (Omaha): Supports efforts to increase housing stability for Nebraska households at or below 80% area median income (AMI) for their community, by providing down payment assistance to first-time homebuyers, weatherization assistance to low-income homeowners and by providing education to homebuyers and renters.
• $20,000 – NeighborWorks Lincoln (Lincoln): Supports real estate development to increase the supply of safe, decent and affordable housing, and advances neighborhoods through strengthened housing stock.
• $25,000 – NeighborWorks Northeast Nebraska (Norfolk): Supports funding to assist low- to moderate-income individuals and families to purchase homes in its eight-county service area with down payment assistance and homebuyer education.
• $35,000 – No More Empty Pots (Omaha): Supports the No More Empty Pots Culinary Certificate Program to provide culinary and life skills training that support student development in workforce readiness, capabilities to overcome traditional barriers to employment and self-sufficiency.
• $20,000 – Omaha Home for Boys (Omaha): Supports Jacobs' Place, OHB's Transitional Living Program that helps struggling teens and young adults stabilize and grow to become independent, self-sufficient members of our community.
• $15,000 – Omaha Municipal Land Bank (Omaha): Supports the Acquisitions, Maintenance and Disposition Program, a core program of OMLB that allows the Land Bank to strategically acquire vacant and abandoned properties, remove title encumbrances, maintain them, and sell them to responsible property owners.
• $15,000 – Panhandle Partnership (Scottsbluff): Supports workforce development programs and events for junior high and high school districts across the entire 11-county panhandle of western Nebraska to work toward a thriving Nebraska panhandle.
• $30,000 – Project Houseworks (Omaha): Supports Project Houseworks’ senior programming to help preserve affordable homeownership for low-income seniors in Douglas and Sarpy counties by providing free home repairs and modifications so they may age-in-place in the safety of their own homes.
• $40,000 – RISE Academy (Omaha): Supports the RISE Reentry Employment Program to provide justice system-impacted Nebraskans with quality skills training, case management, career planning and job placement that result in livable and thriving wage employment pathways.
• $20,000 – SPARK Capital (Omaha): Supports the Developer Academy, a unique housing-focused program that offers comprehensive training, relationship-building and technical assistance to emerging local real estate developers, supporting them as they build affordable housing in the North and South Omaha neighborhoods where they live.
• $20,000 – Urban League of Nebraska (Omaha): Supports the Urban League's new, evidence-based Financial Empowerment Center.
• $10,000 – Volunteers Assisting Seniors (Omaha): Supports the Nebraska Homestead Exemption Program, a property tax relief program for low-income homeowners over the age of 65, veterans and disabled individuals.
• $20,000 – YMCA of Greater Omaha (Omaha): Supports YMCA's Early Learning Centers, which provide high-quality, affordable child-care options for working parents of children up to age 6, while preparing children for success in kindergarten and beyond.

Colorado

FNBO awarded $305,000 in Impact Grants to 20 organizations across northern Colorado:

• $10,000 – A Precious Child (Boulder): Supports A Precious Child’s Social Enterprise Coffee and Gift Shop for ages 15-24 who are currently out of school, without employment or struggling with a learning disorder, through work-based learning and fostering the skill sets to obtain and retain employment.
• $10,000 – Bridge House (Boulder): Supports Ready to Work Program, which provides transformative opportunities for adults experiencing homelessness with an innovative “Work Works” program through paid employment, housing and support services.
• $20,000 – Colorado Enterprise Fund (Ft. Collins): Supports capital and coaching programs for underserved small businesses in northern Colorado. CEF's lending and coaching support will build small business capacity and create jobs for those who face the greatest barriers to economic opportunity.
• $10,000 – DreamSpring (Ft. Collins): Supports character-based loans with financial education and targeted technical assistance, allowing DreamSpring to bridge the credit and knowledge gap that prevents underserved entrepreneurs, especially low-to-moderate income women and/or minorities, from fully participating in critical wealth-building.
• $10,000 – Family Learning Center (Boulder): Supports education and workforce development programs focusing on comprehensive training in early childhood education and quality child care, adult basic education, ESL, financial literacy, computer skills and career readiness.
• $15,000 – Flatirons Habitat for Humanity (Boulder): Supports Flatirons Habitat for Humanity, which partners with low-income families by offering homeownership opportunities and other programs to break the cycle of poverty and empower them to achieve self-sufficiency and stability.
• $20,000 – Greeley-Weld Habitat for Humanity (Greeley): Supports the Construction Pathway Program, an educational/workforce training initiative that teaches underserved high school students construction and life skills.
• $20,000 – Habitat for Humanity of the St. Vrain Valley (Boulder): Supports construction of two permanently affordable homes in Longmont to build strength, stability and self-reliance for low-income, working households.
• $15,000 – High Plains Housing Development Corp (Greeley): Supports general operating expenses related to the organization’s activities as a non-profit, affordable housing developer.
• $20,000 – Homeward Alliance (Ft. Collins): Supports the EARN employment program, which empowers job seekers experiencing homelessness, or near homeless, to find and maintain employment.
• $15,000 – Innosphere (Ft. Collins): Supports the Research Associate Program, a work-based learning program run by Innosphere Ventures that places diverse students with innovation-driven businesses.
• $20,000 – Larimer Small Business Development Center (Ft. Collins): Supports the small business fundamentals training program classes and workshops offered throughout the calendar year.
• $20,000 – Loveland Habitat for Humanity (Loveland): Supports Loveland Habitat for Humanity to provide local residents with affordable homeownership so that individuals and families can live in a safe and healthy environment while becoming more financially stable.
• $15,000 – Neighbor to Neighbor (Ft. Collins): Supports emergency eviction prevention services, utility assistance, move-in rental assistance and mortgage assistance from homelessness to homeownership in the state of Colorado.
• $20,000 – Project Self-Sufficiency of Northern Colorado (Ft. Collins): Supports Project Self-Sufficiency’s Self-Power model to blend best practices grounded in post-secondary education, employment training and wraparound supports to empower single parents to map their own pathway out of poverty.
• $10,000 – The Greeley Dream Team (Greeley): Supports the Alumni Program, which will build on the success of GDT’s existing programming by providing comprehensive support to GDT students during the first two years of their post-secondary education and becoming workforce-ready — when students face the greatest odds of dropping out.
• $15,000 – The Matthews House (Ft. Collins): Supports The Matthews House programming to ensure homeless or at-risk of becoming homeless youth are housed and receive case management and wrap-around support in order to maintain safe and stable housing.
• $15,000 – Thrive (Boulder): Supports Thrive’s workforce training program, which provides underserved members of the community with the tools needed to overcome obstacles, find and maintain work and advance in their jobs, as well as the resources needed to gain skills, confidence and hope towards the path of self-sufficiency and stability.
• $15,000 – University of Northern Colorado Foundation (Greeley): Supports the East Colorado Small Business Development Center’s goal to build a strong local economy by helping new and existing businesses grow.

Illinois

FNBO awarded $145,000 in Impact Grants to eight organizations in Illinois:

• $20,000 – Allies for Community Business (Boone, DeKalb, Kane, Kendall, McHenry): Supports Allies for Community Businesses’ core services of capital, coaching and connections.
• $15,000 – DeKalb Behavioral Health Foundation (DeKalb): Supports the Individual Placement Support (IPS) Program, an evidence-based program that works with individuals with a mental health diagnosis who have expressed a desire to obtain employment and collaborates with local businesses to help these individuals secure competitive employment.
• $10,000 – DeKalb County EDC (DeKalb): Supports DCEDC’s Small Business Workforce Network to include education and training, recruitment, child care, careers, affordable housing, entrepreneurship, networking and business growth.
• $10,000 – Habitat for Humanity of DeKalb County (DeKalb): Supports the Home Preservation program, which will provide minor and major repair services to low-income homeowners in an effort to prevent houses from deteriorating, address health and safety issues, address code violations and prevent families from being displaced.
• $30,000 – Habitat for Humanity of McHenry County (McHenry): Supports sustaining home construction and rehabilitation efforts while fostering community involvement to serve the people of McHenry County.
• $25,000 – Home of the Sparrow (Woodstock): Supports employment program to assist homeless and housing-insecure adults to increase economic self-sufficiency by developing employable skills, improving job readiness and connecting to community resources and employers.
• $10,000 – Literacy Volunteers Fox Valley (St. Charles): Supports the LSS Center for Financial Resources, which provides financial education workshops and counseling to individuals and families in the areas of Yankton, Mitchell and Huron.
• $25,000 – The Neighbor Project (Aurora): Supports the Financial Empowerment Center, which works to improve economic mobility by providing free one-on-one financial coaching and guidance to individuals and families to build credit scores, manage and reduce debt and access safe and affordable banking products.

Kansas

FNBO awarded $75,000 in Impact Grants to four organizations in Kansas:

• $20,000 – Connections to Success (Johnson County): Supports Pathways to Success, a personal and professional development training program that consists of a 60-hour experiential workforce engagement with education on financial literacy, healthy relationships, cognitive development, critical thinking and job search and retention.
• $20,000 – Friends of JCDS (Johnson County): Supports the building and renovation of affordable and accessible homes for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
• $15,000 – Habitat for Humanity of Kansas City (Johnson County): Supports the Neighborhood Revitalization program, which encompasses new home builds and home repairs for low-income families.
• $20,000 – Junior Achievement of Kansas City (Johnson County): Supports the learning hours for KC's youth through curriculum enhancement, educator training, K-12 program evaluation and the Innovation Career Center launch.

South Dakota

FNBO awarded $15,000 in Impact Grants to one organization in South Dakota:

• $15,000 – Lutheran Social Services of South Dakota (Yankton): Supports the LSS Center for Financial Resources, which provides financial education workshops and counseling to individuals and families in the areas of Yankton, Mitchell and Huron.

Texas

FNBO awarded $25,000 in Impact Grants to two organizations in Texas:

• $10,000 – Agape Resource & Assistance Center (Collin County): Supports a two-prong approach program to improve economic stability through financial literacy, including basic concepts, becoming banked, budgeting, credit recovery and debt reduction, workforce education and certification to increase employable skills and income.
• $15,000 – DreamSpring (Denton County): Supports character-based loans with financial education and targeted technical assistance, to allow DreamSpring to bridge the credit and knowledge gap that prevents underserved entrepreneurs, especially low-to-moderate income women and/or minorities, from fully participating in critical wealth-building.

Wyoming

FNBO awarded $30,000 in Impact Grants to two organizations in Wyoming:

• $15,000 – Climb (Laramie County): Supports low-income single mothers through career training and placement, life and financial skills development and mental health counseling to achieve self-sufficiency and fill critical jobs in industries that bolster the state’s economy.
• $15,000 – Wyoming Women’s Business Center (Wyoming): Supports further enabling its mission of serving Wyoming’s economically disadvantaged entrepreneurs through education, training and counseling.

For more information about FNBO’s impact initiatives, visit fnbo.com/impact.

About FNBO

First National Bank of Omaha (FNBO) is a subsidiary of First National of Nebraska, Inc. (FNNI). FNNI and its affiliates have over $30 billion in assets and 5,000 employee associates. Primary banking offices are located in Nebraska, Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, South Dakota, Texas and Wyoming. Founded in 1857, FNBO has maintained its commitment to helping build strong communities for more than 165 years. Learn more at FNBO.com and connect with us on Facebook, X and Instagram. Member FDIC.

For information contact:
Sally Christensen
402-871-1933
schristensen@fnbo.com