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Working Together

When it comes to economic development, few in Omaha choose to “go it alone.”

Public-private partnerships – strengthened by philanthropic commitments from the area’s prominent citizens, corporations and foundations – are proving to be the key to both new development and reinvestment in Greater Omaha’s older neighborhoods.

“We see the value of partnerships every day,” says David G. Brown, president and CEO of the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce. “The Chamber partners with the City of Omaha, the Omaha Convention and Visitors Bureau and other county and state government leaders and agencies; with small and large businesses; and with the academic and medical communities. In turn, these entities form partnerships of their own.

“It’s how we have turned so many dreams into reality.”

Evidence that partnerships fuel progress is visible throughout the city, from the North Downtown development projects to the south 24th Street redevelopments and beyond into western Douglas, Sarpy and Washington counties.

The partnerships are bolstered by civic leaders who believe in progress. Heritage Services is one example.

Heritage Services is a non-profit Omaha organization that served as the fundraising vehicle for several successful projects, including the Holland Performing Arts Center, the Durham Western Heritage Museum, the Strategic Air and Space Museum, the addition to the Joslyn Art Museum and, through Donors Trust, Qwest Center Omaha.

Heritage Services announced in March it will raise required matching funds of $15 million for the operations endowment of the $30 million Ray and Joan Kroc Community Center to be built in South Omaha.

The eight-member board of Heritage Services includes some of Omaha’s most influential citizens: Walter Scott Jr., chairman emeritus of Peter Kiewit Sons’, Inc.; Ken Stinson, Peter Kiewit Sons’, Inc. chairman; John Gottschalk, publisher of the Omaha World-Herald newspaper; Charles Durham, founding member of HDR Inc.; Richard “Dick” Bell, HDR chairman; Mike McCarthy, founder of the McCarthy Group; and Michael B. Yanney, founder of America First Cos., now Burlington Capital Group.

Walter Scott also serves as chairman of the board of policy advisors for The Peter Kiewit Institute (PKI), a facility that exemplifies Omaha’s successful public-private partnerships.

Situated on the south campus of the University of Nebraska at Omaha, PKI blends business and industry with two colleges: the University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Engineering and UNO’s College of Information Science and Technology.

In order to fully integrate the business component of the institute, PKI utilizes an advisory board of CEOs and more than 200 global business partners ranging from Union Pacific and the U.S. Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM) to IBM and Johnson Controls.

PKI is within walking distance of a conference center, residence halls and the Scott Technology Transfer and Incubator Center, with facilities for the development and commercialization of ideas emerging from PKI and its partners. The buildings share the campus with First Data Resources and the planned Aksarben Village mixed-use urban development.

Scott says the alliance between industry leaders and higher education “is responsive and strategic with where business is heading, not where it’s been.

“Our motto is ‘Education Moving at the Speed of Business,’” he says. “I doubt we were the first to adopt this model, but it has made a big splash, and I believe that’s the direction all academic institutions wishing to serve technical industries will have to go.

“The best indication we’re on the right track is the parade of other academic institutions coming to Omaha to study our model.”

Strong public-private partnerships. The key to a city – and to its future.

Growth at UNMC

The University of Nebraska Medical Center, with its hospital partner, The Nebraska Medical Center, have a $1.5 billion annual economic impact and employ a combined workforce of 9,500, in 2006 announced a $250 million facilities plan.

The plan is ambitious – and it relies on the generous donations of those who support its goals.

UNMC has undergone significant growth and construction since the Board of Regents approved the 1999 Campus Physical Master Plan. Plans are underway to build a second Research Center of Excellence adjacent to the Durham Research Center, which opened in 2003; complete the Sorrell Center as the new home to the College of Medicine; renovate Poynter Hall for patient-oriented research and renovate Bennett Hall to consolidate the faculty of the School of Allied Health Professions.

In addition, the 2006-2015 Facilities Development Plan proposed construction that would yield a UNMC Comprehensive Cancer Center building in the near term, followed by an additional research tower. UNMC leaders say that with the additional laboratory space equivalent to two Durham Research Centers, a campus projection of $200 million per year and beyond in research funding is attainable.

The medical center’s plan includes a facility to house the new College of Public Health north of the UNMC Student Life Center; an addition to the College of Nursing in Omaha to support enrollment increases; expanded research and office space; new parking structures near campus entry points to minimize increasing traffic; additional green space and pedestrian pathways, as well as signature features including an outdoor ice rink; and an addition to the fitness facility.