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Generation Diamond Corporation
4829 S 25th Street Omaha, NE 68107
https://www.generationdiamond.net
in development
Mrs. Blanca Mejia
Executive Director / Founder
Generationdiamondcorp@gmail.com
+1 (402) 813-7153
Yes
Blanca Mejia -- Executive Director, Founder, Generation Diamond. Generation Diamond program, built outreach from 20-30 clients per month to current 800 unduplicated persons yearly. Recognized as South Omaha leader in not-for-profit sector, especially in re-entry and life crisis assistance. Innovator who introduced Omaha to tattoo removal service as not-for-profit activity to help remove barriers to employment. Second is Ben Salazar, Institutional Relations Agent and Business Consultant. Ben is a leader in entrepreneurial activity to advance the lives of citizens in need of an advocate, with special empathy for people working through re-entry . Third, Steve Wamberg brings experience in all forms of not-for-profit communications from public relations to direct mail to speechwriting. Grant proposals, too.
This chart is uploaded at the end fof the document.
Generation Diamond is: 1. Delivered basic needs services (food, clothing, job search assistance, tattoo removal, etc.) for some 1,500 client encounters each month, up from 900 such encounters last year. 2. Delivering basic needs services to over 800 unduplicated persons this year, up from 500 two years agp. 3. Delivering self-management classes (stress management, critical thinking, yoga, mental health) to 50 students monthly.
Generation Diamond Transitional Center
9093800.0
6792500.0
Combination of capital project and service/program
Through this proposal, Generation Diamond seeks funding to secure and renovate a neighborhood building at 4734 S 27th Street, Omaha, NE 68107 that will serve as its new location for a larger facility to offer a greater number of client encounters to its target clientele of persons facing homelessness, re-entry from incarceration, or those dealing with current crisis. The building, renovation, and program upgrade cost is $9,093,800 for which Generation Diamond will cover $2,301,300. The Generation Diamond Transitional Center will bring services to the community which include food, clothing, hygiene support, personal development classes, job searches, mental health sessions, housing searches and referrals, and tattoo removal. The added room of the building we seek will also allow Generation Diamond to offer temporary emergency housing for 50 persons in need of shelter as they take steps to resolve life issues that can include indebtedness, broken relationships, under- or unemployment, and addiction. Such temporary housing is a profound need in the South Omaha community, where people facing homelessness and especially re-entry are often refused a place in their previous place with family or friends. This approach will give such citizens a temporary place of secure shelter and a practical, productive program offering an innovative, much-needed context for reflection and thoughtful action to resolve issues that daily hinder their sense of well-being. We are currently securing bids for renovation and restoration of the building, and believe the renovation and remodeling process could be as much as 75% complete by July 2025. We believe that the expanded space offered by the 4734 S 27th Street, Omaha, NE 68107 location would allow us to double the current number of client service encounters (currently at 1,500 monthly serving 800 unique individuals annually). Further, additional space in the proposed building would allow us to double classroom and meeting room areas, which would allow us to offer classes at no charge to an additional 50 students. Finally, the enlarged floor space will allow us to better house our tattoo removal service – necessary for scores of clients seeking employment -- to serve some 350 clients.
This timeline is uploaded at the end of the application
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Fundamental Change (i.e., a proposal that will continue to elevate North or South Omaha's presence and perception within the region, significantly improving the lives of area residents through physical development) Long-Lasting Economic Growth (i.e., a proposal that will foster gainful employment opportunities and financial investment in the area, leading to the creation of generational wealth and widespread economic vitality in North and South Omaha) Transformational (i.e., a proposal that will help energize, recharge, or spur significant and favorable advancements in North or South Omaha's function or appearance)
Policy (i.e., develop or improve context-sensitive education, finance, health, training, zoning, etc.) Quality of Life (i.e., create or enhance natural spaces, mixed uses, parks, safety, etc.) Sustainable Community (i.e., create or enhance housing, services, education, civic uses, recreation, etc.)
Through this proposal, Generation Diamond seeks funding for the purchase and renovation of 4734 S 27th Street, Omaha, NE 68107 which will allow Generation Diamond to significantly increase its services to its intended clientele of people facing homelessness and/or re-entry into the community from incarceration. The project aligns well with the community needs listed immediately above. It is in harmony with “Sustainable Community” in that it is increasing access to services like education, emergency shelter, food, clothing, employment, and other life essentials. We do hope that a modestly landscaped entrance and making the grounds safe to walk will enhance the “Quality of Life” for the community, along with opening building offices and meeting rooms to other organizations. Finally, we see “Policy” impacted through education for clients (like self-care, critical thinking, and stress management) and for volunteers and staff (like dealing with people affected by mental heath issues, or training to care for a person’s immediate needs) will give added weight to the viability of the Generation Diamond approach that reinforces the value of meaningful work and the real need for everyone to have access to life essentials. This is especially true for the 50-bed emergency temporary shelter we are launching to not only provide housing for a short time, but also to offer a unique service that utilizes the security of shelter to encourage a client to take brave yet thoughtful steps to resolve life stress points like debts, broken relationships, or unemployment.
Alignment This proposal and the program its expanded facility would support is quite resonant with the Visioning Workshop findings for South Omaha. The findings for South Omaha indicate strength through a thriving small business community that expresses its community support through local reinvestment. Generation Diamond has been the recipient of this generosity for several years, and the relationships there promise a continued stream of both financial and personal support. Insufficient infrastructure is a significant weakness in our community, as noted in both Listening Session and Visioning results. Our building renovation would address and modernize broadband, utilities, and street/sidewalk issues within reach of our proposed new-to-us building. Of further note is the nature of our cultural context, which values work and family and seeks to prevent self-destructive behavior – especially behavior driven by a lack of hope due to a lack of access. Generation Diamond simply needs more room to house its life-changing services that range from food and clothing to stress management skills to job searches, and matches LB1024’s strategic priorities as summarized in the notes on the listening session and the overarching goal of strategic and generous investment in North and South Omaha areas of need. As part of the South Omaha community, we know the need for sufficient infrastructure. The project supports newly implemented broadband, utilities, sidewalks and street access that represent an increase, rather than a drain, on community infrastructure. So is the access to public transportation at 24th and L, near the proposed Center. Since its 2016 launch, Generation Diamond has embraced its cultural context as a Latino organization even as it offers its services to all without prejudice. It remains one of the few organizations that offers its program content in both Spanish and English. Further, the Generation Diamond program is already offering its services to more than 800 unduplicated persons last year and this year. Approval of this proposal would allow even more citizens in need access to job skills enhancement, mental health support, stress management, food, clothing, hygiene support, job search, and housing referrals.
As mentioned above, this proposal and the program an expanded facility would support is quite resonant with the Visioning Workshop findings and LB1024’s strategic priorities as summarized in the notes on the listening session and the overarching goal of strategic and generous investment in North and South Omaha areas of need. As part of the South Omaha community, we know the need for sufficient infrastructure. The project supports newly implemented broadband, utilities, sidewalks and street access that represent an increase, rather than a drain, on community infrastructure. Also, since its 2016 launch, Generation Diamond has embraced its cultural context as a Latino organization even as it offers its services to all without prejudice. It remains one of the few organizations that offers its program content in both Spanish and English. Further, the Generation Diamond program is already offering its services to more than 800 unduplicated persons last year and this year. Approval of this proposal would allow even more citizens in need access to job skills enhancement, mental health support, stress management, food, clothing, hygiene support, job search, and housing referrals.
Long-term training initiatives will help re-entry and homeless persons acquire skills in areas that will include carpentry, design, computer programming, baking, and general work skills to become valued members of the work force. They will be assisted to find and secure living-wage jobs. Based on our history we believe we can equip at least 100 such workers annually, and probably more. We enjoy vital partnerships with Metro Community College, the carpenter’s union and several South Omaha businesses, all of whom regularly train, interview, and hire candidates from among Generation Diamond clients. Many of these jobs are in Generation Diamond’s neighborhood. Most of the 800 people we served this year are from our QCT.
We believe as many as 100 yearly.
For the renovation and rebuild of the Center, roughly 60.
We would say in the $18 - $35 per hour range.
We are encouraging former and current Generation Diamond clients to stay aware of the job opportunties available through local contractors, and encouraging the local contractors to hire workers from our client pool. We make the connection between the worker and the neighborhood. We share the same QCT, and hope to grow the economy that is most local to almost all of us.
The Generation Diamond program has been recognized in the South Omaha as a place that receives and helps persons who would otherwise, and visibly, be on the streets. We are understood to be a safe haven for people who need to recover stability through access to life essentials, and then extend that stability into self-care, a job search, and employment. This proposal will allow Generation Diamond to open emergency shelter and housing for those seeking to establish stability, taking people off the streets. In turn, every person taken off the streets improves the public perception of the neighborhood and saves the community some $35,000 annually (the cost of one homeless person to the community each year). Beyond optics, the transformation of people who come to us for help and take even the most modest steps toward recovery benefits the community with citizens who are ready to become contributors in, rather than takers from, the community. We have to ask the question with open minds and hearts: Where are the people we will someday serve? Are they within our reach to help now? What would help them most? We keep coming back to the holistic approach toward human need that is our temporary shelter initiative. In offering life coaching for a season while a client “gets himself together,” in a season where they don’t have to worry about food, shelter, a safe place to be – well, what better time to work on the life issues that keep them from moving forward? We’ve seen the approach work before for people we’ve helped. We’re ready and excited to implement it in the neighborhood and community right where we live.
This proposal builds out the local economy on several levels. It pays for work in the local QCT. It creates workers to work, live, and pay taxes in our QCT. It even supports the efforts of other businesses and organizations to participate economically in the local QCT. The proposal also promises a freshening through rebuilding an aging building to support community members in need. The building will offer a new and, we hope, welcoming presence in a block that has fallen into some disrepair and distress both architecturally and in the landscaping. It will improve the quality of life for the community as its citizens in need improve their quality of life. Each community member who comes to Generation Diamond for assistance will be encouraged to become an agent of positive transforas they are positively transformed by mation, even making a life pla, finding secure and permanent housing, and entering into a living-wage career through a decent job.
Generation Diamond is now operating as both a re-entry program and as a community center serving hundreds of people in need per month. Many of those Generation Diamond serves would identify themselves as experiencing homelessness and are among those who almost daily receive food and hygiene assistance. Yet Generation Diamond has kept its focus on re-entry services for those coming out of incarceration, even as its mission expands. Generation Diamond’s target population is any individual in need, but especially adults aged 19 and above who are returning to his or her community after being released from incarceration jobless, homeless, and/or addicted. Generation Diamond has found that by helping individuals develop a life plan, secure a job, and find their own place to live that their personal chaos is replaced by a sense of well-being and stability, which benefits both the individual and our community. Research indicates that re-entry programs relevant to life outside of prison that guide participants toward meaningful employment are the most successful. Finding and holding a job is also critical for successful re-entry. Historically, just over 26% of Generation Diamond participants are still sober and employed one year after program completion. Generation Diamond is confident in the ongoing efficacy of its approach, even as it takes note of possible options for improvement.
We will likely measure longevity of job tenure to find and establish a route to permanency in employment. We will also measure not simply the popularity of our self-care classes, but also the takeaway knowledge from the course after 30 days. We will measure the number of clients who are ready for higher-wage ($22 an hour or more) jobs and work with them to refine their approach to job interviews.
Generation Diamond staff is used to collecting data to verify participant identities and attendance through hard attendance counts, small group interviews, and 1:1 interviews. We keep current and historical data on those who utilize its services. It actively seeks survey input from participants and volunteers to help assess and improve its programming. Performance measures of particular value at this point include number of participants, number of participants securing employment, number of participants in the tattoo removal program, types of jobs taken by participants, percentage of participants receiving services while on parole, percentage of participants in need of transitional and/or permanent housing at 30-day intervals.
Outome measurement does help Generation Diamond discern which parts of our program are genuinely helpful , and therefore helps us invest our resources wisely in choosing elements of our program to continue or to discontinue. It also helps us hear the needs of clients, and to adjust our program elements or organization partnerships accordingly. So yes, measurement produces catalytic results for us.
Yes
Generation Diamond is unique among local reentry programs in that it is the only one in the Omaha community providing all of its services and training in both Spanish and English. Generation Diamond is also honored to be connected with a wide variety of service providers to meet specific needs of the reentry and/or homeless populations in South Omaha. We partner with Bell House to provide or arrange life skills and employment- related trainings, along with mental health assessments. We partner with the Carpenters Union to refer people who are interested in developing carpentry or other trade skills. Metro College is a vital partner in helping us provide job searches, documentation, and other employment preparation services. Stephen Center and Saint Francis House offer in-kind help (especially meals and clothing) and transportation to people who come to generation diamond, which offers hygienic support in return. MACCH, Together, Inc., and Whispering Roots have also provided support for Generation Diamond clients. We are also working out the details of a partnership with La Casa del Pueblo’s South Omaha Re-Entry Project, which is preparing to launch a training bakery for formerly incarcerated persons like those we serve at Generation Diamond. It brings a gifted master baker into the bakery of one of Omaha’s most prestigious restaurants in the stockyards to teach students in need of a living-wage skill. It would give us the opportunity to provide trainee referrals for this new initiative.
MOUs are being brought to the table for La Casa Pueblo. We are in discussion with other organizations about MOU agreements.
No
The physical location is 4734 S 27th Street, Omaha, NE 68107. Some details are attached at the end of this document. We have yet to visit the inside of the building, but have walked the outside and looked through the windows with the owner's permission. It looks a bit worn, but not worn out.
Within one or more QCTs
We have uploads available for the items save for a formal environmental assessment of the site. Our knowledge of the environmental state of the site is unknown.
No
Yes
Yes
No
No
Internet research, calls to contractors, calls to other organizations with similar buiding project history
No
Request Rationale Documentation Generation Diamond 100122 Total project cost per this proposal: $9,093,800. Request from LB1024: $6,792,500. Building Purchase ($1,500,000) – This is requested for the purchase price of the building and lot addressed 4734 S 27th Street, Omaha, NE 68008. Source of figure: Sam Murante, realtor for the property, who stated the range was between 1 million and 2 million dollars. Renovation Construction and Finish ($915,200) – This is the figure to renovate 52,850 square feet of commercial building at $17.30 per square foot. Source: https://www.smartremodelingllc.com/blog/how-do-you-calculate-commercial-renovation-costs Plumbing ($120,000) – Cost to update and install plumbing. Source: local contractor, no visual. Electric ($75,000) – Cost to update electricity. Source: local contractor, no visual. HVAC ($50,000) – Cost to update and install HVAC. Source: local contractor, no visual. Dorm Rooms (50 count; $1,620,000) Modest small rooms for housing Generation Diamond’s stability-seeking clients. Source: https://www.benkuhn.net/constr/. This cited per square foot costs as between $115 and $215, This figure covers 50 rooms of 180 square feet each at a cost of $165. Salaries, Heath Insurance Year One1 for 12 staff and the Executive Director (Asking for $312,100 of the $624,000 cost. Generation Diamond covers the other half through fundraising.) Stable and fair wages and health insurance benefit. This allows us the ability to increase staff. Source: Insurance vendors, Generation Diamond financials. Program Year 1 ($910,000; asking for $455,000 with Generation Diamond covering the other half.) Funds for tangible essential needs (food, clothing, hygiene kits, documentation fees, etc.). This allows us funding for additional client service essentials. Source: Generation Diamond financials. Contract Work (PR, Content, Agency work fund of $84,000). Source: Other similar not-for-profits, current contractors. 10 commercial washer/dryer pkg ($30,000 -- Much-needed laundry facilities for those ready for clean clothes. (Note: clothing beyond redemption is replaced by new clothing.) Source: several online vendors. 2 kitchen appliance pkg ($22,000) – Appliances for the two planned kitchen areas in the renovated Center. Source: several online vendors. Furnishings ($75,000) -- Furniture for common living areas, conference rooms, classrooms. Source: estimates from other organizations with similar multi-use buildings. Salaries/Health Years 2,3 ($1,248,400; half this amount covered by Generation Diamond fundraising.) Continuation of support in this area for an additional 24 months. This allows a more stable transition for Generation Diamond as an organization while increasing our service and staff capacities. Source: Generation Diamond. Program Years 2,3 ($1,820,000; half this amount covered by Generation Diamond fundraising.) Total LB1024 Request: $6,792,500 Generation Diamond commitment: $2,301,300.
LB1024 GRANT FUND USE Generation Diamond USES Building Purchase $1,500,000 Renovation Construction and Finish 915,200 Plumbing 120,000 Electric 75,000 HVAC 50,000 Dorm Rooms (50 count) 1,620,000 Salaries, Heath Insurance yr1 (12 Staff, Exec Dir) 312,100 Program yr 1 455,000 Contract Work (PR, Content) 84,000 10 commercial washer/dryer pkg 30,000 2 kitchen appliance pkg 22,000 Furnishings 75,000 Salaries/Health yrs 2,3 624,200 Program yrs 2,3 955,000 Total Uses $6,792,500
Yes
Any guidelines presented by funder for accounting and banking will be followed. Best accounting and fiscal practices will be implemented. LB1024 funds will have their own account to avoid any co-mingling of funds. These funds will be reconciled each workday. Team members and senior leadership will join our accountant in reviewing LB1024 account at least once a week. Irregularities of any form will be reported to the Executive Director and Senior Accountant immediately for resolution.
We anticipate exploring funding sources including donors associated with Omaha Community Foundation, including the Scott Foundation, and several others who have directed us to OCF for their funding activity. We will explore working with the Sherwood Foundation, the Weisz amily Foundation, and United Way of the Midlands this year. We will seek to work with Union Pacific and the Dunklau Foundation, as well as the Kind World Foundation and the Hearst Foundation, along with several smaller foundations and major donors. No activity with these entities is going forward currently, although another cycle of end-of-year requests will be upon us in the next few weeks.
Funding reques (eight requests for an average of $15,000 each) are being sent next week for December review, December/January decision date.
None specifically from the above list, but it would be quite difficult to continue with the building acquisition, renovation, and program updgrade without LB1024 funding.
The program and salary parts of the budget might be scalable.
Scalability here would be an issue of assigning the reduced percentage of activity (extending help to a fewer number of people, or suspending one or more program elements) that would be undertaken should a concomitant percentage of program or salary funding be lacking.
Generation Diamond's Financial Commitment to the proposal is $2,301,300 (25.3%) of the project total of $9,093,800. We will meet the challenge through fundraising from current and future foundations and donors, enhancing the amount with voucher opportunities, public events, and tattoo removal services.
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Data table of uses (breakdown of how the requested funds will be used for your proposal) Documentation of site control (proof of ownership, option, purchase contract, or long-term lease agreement) Organizational Chart Plans and detailed descriptions, including pictures and a map of the site location/surrounding area Pro Forma Proposal Budget/Sources and Uses Request Rationale Documentation Schedule