In 2024, the Nebraska Legislature passed LB 840, a bill “to create a comprehensive, statewide poverty elimination action plan.” It started by mandating that Omaha and Lincoln create five-year plans analyzing poverty in the two cities and survey solutions in set categories such as education and job training, housing and economic development.

The two plans, finalized earlier this year, tell a varied story of poverty. Both Omaha and Lincoln have seen decreasing rates of poverty since the Great Recession in the late 2000s and early 2010s. 

But that isn’t an even success. “Approximately one in three Black Omaha residents (live) in poverty,” according to the Omaha report. “This makes Black individuals in Omaha 3.5 times more likely to experience poverty than their White counterparts.”

Lincoln has a similar disparity, and different age groups also have unique struggles. “Approximately 13% of Lincoln’s seniors were in poverty in 2023 — a significant increase from about 6% in 2019,” according to Lincoln’s report.

Both plans highlight city programs that already exist to address poverty, along with other proposals that could help. But follow-through to reach LB 840’s goal of poverty elimination will be challenging. 

The bill is an unfunded mandate, so there’s no state money to support Omaha and Lincoln’s efforts. Meanwhile, federal anti-poverty programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Medicaid are seeing drastic cuts. That’s likely to increase poverty over the next few years, putting more pressure on state and local resources in Nebraska.

“I’m trying to remain positive,” said Ryan Spohn, director of the Nebraska Center for Justice Research at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. Spohn was part of a team of UNO researchers that put together the Omaha poverty elimination plan.

But “I have a lot of pessimism right now, even if a number of recommendations that we put in the report, the city tries to (do), that poverty rates in Omaha are going to be going down anytime soon,” he said. “Everything that could go wrong is going wrong right now.”

Low-hanging fruit

Still, there’s much that Omaha and Lincoln can do to address poverty. In fact, Spohn and Stephanie Rouse, who wrote the Lincoln poverty elimination plan, both said they were surprised by how much each respective city already does, be it directly through city services or through the nonprofit world.

And having the poverty elimination plan is still beneficial as a starting point for future planning, said Dan Marvin, the director of Lincoln’s Urban Development department.

“The first report is just inventorying the resources that we have and assessing their effectiveness,” Marvin said. “That’s really the best first step to look at this, and then from there … What’s the low-hanging fruit that can give people an opportunity to earn above minimum wage, and get to the $20-, $25-an-hour level?”

In Omaha, the poverty elimination plan is now part of a city task force, one of several organized by Mayor John Ewing. The task force met for the first time in September and split into working groups to develop action out of the poverty elimination plan.

The groups are considering, “This is the goal, but in one year, what can we (reasonably) accomplish?” said Cailin Daly Dejillas, director of the Omaha Human Rights and Relations Department. “And how can we be specific about it, make sure there’s something measurable that we’re thinking about.”

Dejillas said the City of Omaha has not yet designated funding to implement the poverty elimination plan, but she expects the working groups to have specific funding asks. “Then we’ll have those conversations,” she said.

The state may also decide to pitch in funding for these plans, said Rouse, the manager of the livable neighborhoods division in Lincoln’s Urban Development department.

“That was one of the questions that was asked to both of us when we presented to the Urban Affairs Committee, was, ‘When you’re thinking about implementing in the next year, what help do you need from us, or what are you expecting?’” Rouse said. “A big piece of that will be what the state does next with both of our plans and … the projects that we could use their assistance on.”

Workforce and economic development a cornerstone of plans

Both the Lincoln and Omaha poverty elimination plans emphasize the role employment plays in poverty. Ideally, jobs provide ample wages and benefits to workers, so they can then cover costs like housing, food and medical needs.

“In my mind, anyway, (jobs) are the primary driver of lifting people out of poverty and keeping people out of poverty,” said Spohn. But there are some persistent issues with a government focus on jobs. For one, Nebraska has a unique flavor of the job and poverty dynamic. 

In Lincoln, for example, “low unemployment in the city means that lack of jobs is not the sole issue — instead, many low-income people are working but earning too little or working part-time,” its report said.

Workforce development also intersects with many of the other issues driving poverty: lack of accessible and affordable housing, transportation and child care.

During community focus groups in Lincoln, Rouse was surprised at how often transportation came up. While Lincoln has public transportation, residents said the hours weren’t early or late enough for some jobs, and the frequency of buses was a liability. 

Some had to “leave for work two hours early to make sure if the bus had a breakdown that they still could make it on time, waiting for the next bus to come,” Rouse said.

In Omaha community sessions, Spohn heard a lot about the need for all family care. Not just child care, but “also assistance in caring for other family members, so maybe elderly or disabled family members,” he said. “If we don’t have any help … it’s very difficult to be in the workforce.”

Another challenge for both cities is that many jobs come from private industries and aren’t simply created at the behest of governments, so targeting job creation isn’t straightforward, Spohn said.

But something the cities can do is improve communication across private industry and educational institutions while also coordinating with nonprofits to support targeted workforce development. Doing so is also cost effective, given the lack of state funding for the poverty elimination plans.

“As new employers come to Omaha, how can we be mindful of making sure that … educational institutions have a curriculum ready to upskill people to be able to take those jobs?” Dejillas said.

“One of the key barriers to overcome is really communication and avoiding silos,” she said. “There are so many programs that can be effective, but they can only be so effective independently, and so really collaborating across the city, I think, is very important and something that we’re going to prioritize.”

Lev Gringauz is a Report for America corps member who writes about corporate innovation and workforce development for Silicon Prairie News.