Omaha 100, the Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) offering mortgage, business and other loans to underserved communities, is expanding its economic development work with the acquisition of the Omaha Innovation Connection Hub (OICH), a backbone organization for entrepreneurship in North Omaha.
As part of the acquisition, OICH CEO Trevon Brooks will become CEO of Omaha 100 effective Jan. 1, taking over from Malinda Williams. Currently, Brooks and Williams serve as co-CEOs.
“Historically, Omaha 100 has lent over $120 million into the community in various ways,” Brooks said. “We’re still going to continue to swing on our mortgage side and our business side, but we also want to identify new problems to try to help solve.”
The OICH is one of three nonprofits in Nebraska designated as innovation hubs by the Nebraska Department of Economic Development. Under a 2022 law, the designation is meant to support entrepreneurship and startups.
But the OICH faced headwinds to its work. For one, the “iHub” designation didn’t come with funding — acquiring that was a separate process.
The nonprofit also aimed to work with some of the $30 million in state funding set aside for an innovation district in North Omaha. There has been little progress on disbursing that money from the Omaha Inland Port Authority, which oversees the funding.
OICH public reports said the nonprofit paused programming because of the funding delay, focusing instead on strategic planning and building relationships. One report said OICH separately raised $300,000 while another said that number was over $3 million.
The uncertainty was part of the motivation for bringing the OICH and Omaha 100 together. “As a new organization, building out infrastructure takes sometimes years,” Brooks said.
“Day one, the strategy and the goalpost was one thing, and over time, things changed up a little bit,” he said. “Which is, OK, it just made us really fine tune our processes and (think about) the direction that we wanted to go.”
But joining Omaha 100 also made sense when thinking about how best to serve the community. Rather than duplicating efforts, the acquisition of the innovation hub will help unlock funding, perhaps including federal support, and streamline programming for businesses and workforce development in North Omaha.
“All of a sudden, you have a lending organization that has the ability to attract more funds to not only invest in businesses but provide businesses with technical assistance,” Brooks said. “Then you think about the heart of that innovation hub, of starting, growing, selling and scaling companies. Those are two matches made in heaven.”
Brooks recognizes he has big shoes to fill given the impact that Williams has had on Omaha 100 as CEO. She led the organization as it became independent from Family Housing Advisory Service, and to its expansion of services, including by building housing.
“Following behind a CEO like Malinda is tough,” Brooks said. “Malinda has been able to navigate tons of different markets, coming in to growing the mortgage pool — from working with banking leaders all across our state to rolling out a brand new division and program and growing the organization.”
Omaha 100 already has big plans to invest in entrepreneurship in 2026, including through community and executive advisory boards. The focus on community engagement is something Brooks brings with him from his time as the chief strategy officer at NDED.
“We talk about educating community, advocating for community, and then celebrating our community,” Brooks said. “Those are things that I learned at the DED — that’s the way you win … making sure that at the end of the day, the community has access to you. They can call your phone. They can let you know when things are not going the way that they’re supposed to.”
In a historically disenfranchised community like North Omaha, and in a time when almost a third of Black Omaha residents live in poverty, Brooks sees the stakes for Omaha 100’s continued work.
“Economic development is something that our community desperately needs to continue to grow on and double down on,” he said. “We just want to make sure that we’re playing our part.”
Lev Gringauz is a Report for America corps member who writes about corporate innovation and workforce development for Silicon Prairie News.
