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Black Men United
4200 N 30th St. Omaha, NE 68111
www.blackmenunited.org
https://www.facebook.com/BlackMenUnitedOmahaNebraska/
Willie Hamilton
President
will@blackmenunited.org
+1 (402) 707-3115
Yes
Dr. Dell Gines - economic and community development, organizational and program design. Tony Reynolds, President, TSR Construction and NOPA member, general contractor. Cheryl Weston, community leader.
Uploaded
Black Men United (BMU) is highly regarded in the food security and restorative justice spaces. BMU was recognized as the highest-ranked program in Nebraska Youth Correctional Facility. Pre-pandemic BMU was training and serving over 100 justice-touched individuals pre and post-release from incarceration. The food pantry serves over 600 families monthly in North Omaha. In addition, BMU is currently certified by the Nebraska Department of Education as an adult career school. The organization will launch the Kumani Construction Academy in 2023 and plans to train 60 low-income individuals from North Omaha in construction basics and place them in living wage jobs in year one . From a construction standpoint, BMU has partially redeveloped its current location on 4200 N 30th St. This redevelopment includes classroom space, general facilities improvement, our restorative justice center, and food pantry storage. In addition, BMU helped found NOPA, North Omaha Pride Association, which support Black contractors, and currently has over 25 members. We will draw from this organization to help develop the current and new property acquired through ARPA funding.
Kumani Economic Empowerment Center
5900000.0
4200000.0
Combination of capital project and service/program
Black Men United will create the Kumani Economic Empowerment Center (KEEC). The results of LB1024 funding will be the development of an entrepreneurship, workforce, and human services ecosystem that creates sustainable economic growth in North Omaha. There are many economic challenges in North Omaha. The two economic needs BMU hears most discussed are the need for living wage job opportunities and the need for more small businesses. BMU will expand or launch new programming in workforce development and entrepreneurship. The Kumani Construction Academy will launch 2023 a 140-hour Nebraska Department of Education-certified course. It will expand its entrepreneurship training and include a commercial kitchen incubator, makers space, co-work space, and high-growth tech entrepreneurship training. In addition to the key economic challenges, human service and criminal justice system challenges exist. Many in North Omaha struggle with food insecurity, and others face the impact of incarceration. Many of these challenges are connected yet are addressed in a siloed fashion. As a result, families have to jump from program to program. The KEEC will create a network of support that connects these individuals to Black Men United resources, education and training, and a highly connected system of providers. LB1024 funding will be combined with approximately $450,000 of annual funding Black Men United receives from other public and private sources. Program work will be done at the current and new facilities. As a result of ARPA funding, we will see an increase in North Omaha residents with living wage jobs, an increase in entrepreneurship, and greater vitality in the community.
Major Activities Timeline: • 2023 - Acquire and redevelop the new facility. • 2023 - Launch the Nebraska Department of Education certified 140-hour Kumani Construction Academy certificate program. • 2023 Expansion of reentry programming serves 480 justice-touched individuals and family members annually inside prison and in the community at the current location. • 2023 - Develop a robust database and management system to connect with partners, and reduce service barriers to community members. • 2024 - Expansion of the food pantry from 600 families served monthly to 1200. • 2024 - Launch of entrepreneurship hub that will include co-work space, mini-maker space, and small food operator commercial kitchen incubator. • 2025 - Launch the Kumani Code Academy through our Nebraska Department of Education Certification. • 2025 - Launch a high-growth tech-focused entrepreneurship training program.
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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)
Other Infrastructure (i.e., develop or improve broadband, business districts, roadways, sewer, etc.) Policy (i.e., develop or improve context-sensitive education, finance, health, training, zoning, etc.) Sustainable Community (i.e., create or enhance housing, services, education, civic uses, recreation, etc.)
This proposal is to establish Black Men United's (BMU) Kumani Economic Empowerment Center (KEEC). KEEC is a holistic center that provides economic empowerment to low-income families in North Omaha. The center will help create a sustainable community and an improved quality of life. The pre-existing location of Black Men United, located in the heart of North Omaha at 4200 N 30th St. This location will primarily focus on the entrepreneurship education and training work of Black Men United. The new location will focus on the food pantry, the Kumani Construction Academy classes and lab, the maker space entrepreneurship center, the kitchen entrepreneur incubator, and a co-work space. The following details the various activities of BMU at the KEEC: • Kumani Construction Academy (2023 Launch) - Black Men United is currently certified by the Nebraska Department of Education as an adult career school. The certified program is titled Kumani Construction Academy and will officially launch in 2023. The program is anticipated to train sixty individuals in its first year and, by its third year, 100 individuals. The expectation is that there will be a 75% completion rate annually, with 60% of these individuals securing immediate job placement. This would represent forty-five (45) individuals placed in living wage construction jobs annually by year three. • Kumani Code Camp (2025 Launch) - By 2025 BMU plans to launch the Kumani Code Academy to train low-income, predominantly North Omaha residents how to code. Per current estimates, BMU anticipates training eighty (80) developers per year, with immediate placement of 60% of graduates per year. • Traditional Entrepreneurship Training (2023 Launch) - Courses will include using a business model canvas, marketing and sales, and business legal structures. his program will be designed by national experts and will also partner with and leverage the resources of other local programs, including the Nebraska Enterprise Fund and Nebraska Business Development Center. • High-Growth Entrepreneurship Training (2025 Launch) - BMU will create a training program for high-growth tech startups to maximize economic impact. This program will teach Black and Tech founders how to develop and launch their MVP (minimum viable product), attract customers, connect with angel and venture capitalists, and scale and exit. • Co-work space & Mini-Maker Space (2024 Launch) - A co-work space will be created consisting of cubicles, high-speed internet access, printing, locker space, and basic office supplies. The maker space will consist of 3D printers and other "maker" equipment to allow entrepreneurs to prototype and test basic designs. • Food business incubator (Late 2024 / Early 2025 Launch) - BMU will launch a food business incubator. This will consist of access to a commercial kitchen, education, and training on how to start and scale a small food business and how to finance the necessary equipment. • Food Pantry (2024 Expansion) - This expansion will increase the number of families served from 600 per month to 1,200. This will include increasing the delivery service to food-insecure seniors with limited access to transportation. • Reentry (2023 Expansion) - BMU provides reentry navigation support to 60 ex-offenders per year, and pre-pandemic training was provided to approximately 75 individuals currently incarcerated. BMU will expand navigation services to 100 ex-offenders, predominantly from North and South Omaha. It will train an estimated 125 individuals currently incarcerated within a year of release. • Kumani Help Hub (2023 Launch) -The help hub is designed to connect the ecosystem of services for BMU clients. This system will connect and track services and client outcomes across participating partner providers. Ultimately, this will allow a more robust set of services and support for reentry, and low-income clients, reducing the time and confusion it takes them to navigate support systems.
Black Men United's Kumani Economic Impact Center directly addresses multiple findings in the Vision Workshop Summary. These include the following: Lack of connected businesses both spatially and economically • Lack of investment • Lack of black owned companies that attract others from outside the community • Lack of commercial and retail businesses • Lack of viable space to operate a business • Lack of thriving black businesses • Lack of resources • Lack of jobs • Lack of healthy restaurant or stores • Lack of for-profit business. These can be summarized into two primary areas, workforce, and entrepreneurship. Regarding the workforce, through the Kumani Construction Academy, BMU will be developing the skills of some of the hardest-to-employ workers in North Omaha. This will have a multiplier effect, providing these individuals with living wage job opportunities while simultaneously helping fill the demand for skilled labor faced by our Black contractors. This will help both the workers and our Black entrepreneurs. Regarding entrepreneurship, the training, co-work space, maker space, and incubator will help spur a generation of North Omaha entrepreneurs, and help scale up existing ones. Right now, most entrepreneur support is not proximate to North Omaha residents and does not provide critical needs like cheap office space, commercial kitchen access, and culturally competent instructors. The KEEC will address that but support entrepreneurs across various industries, both mom-and-pop and high-growth tech companies.
The specific purpose of ARPA funds is to address the public health and economic impact caused by the coronavirus disease in 2019. It has been deemed evident that communities like North Omaha suffered greatly both from a health and economic impact. However, the scope and scale of this negative impact have yet to be determined. Black Men United's proposal addresses the economic impact caused by the pandemic. It does this in multiple ways. This first is to increase food security for individuals who are facing a weakened economy and current inflation often attributed to the coronavirus and the response to the coronavirus. It does this through food pantry services. More importantly, for long-term recovery, Black Men United intends to scale its vocational training program, specifically in construction and later in technology training. In addition, it will train and support North Omaha entrepreneurs to help them start, scale, or pivot post-pandemic.
Total - 152 jobs. The majority of wages will be over $17.30 the estimated living wage.
Seventy-two (72) consisting of 7 Black Men United jobs and an estimated 65 jobs created by entrepreneurs we help through our program. One hundred fifty-six (156) job placements for students graduating our programs.
80
Significant range. All vocational jobs, job placements, and BMU new jobs will be above the living wage rate for Omaha, which is $17.30. Therefore, the jobs created by new and scaling entrepreneurs supported by BMU will range significantly and cannot be projected.
One of BMU’s primary partners is the North Omaha Pride Association, a Black contractor association comprised of over 25 local construction firms. BMU will direct the individuals we train to members in the association for on-the-job training and job placement. In addition, our entrepreneur training will directly engage entrepreneurs from North Omaha.
BMU projects to train 275 entrepreneurs and help launch 145 businesses from 2023 to 2025. This will help achieve everything listed in the previous question. In addition, it will diversify the economy, improve local neighborhoods and help revitalize North Omaha. Of course, BMU recognizes that the organization's activities are but one component of economic transformation in North Omaha. Still, BMU believes catalyzing the community around entrepreneurship, and vocational training will serve as the cornerstone for the growth the community needs.
To restate part of the response to the prior question, sustainability is driven by a community's ability to access jobs at living wages and help local entrepreneurs start and scale. This, in turn, leads to economic stability and improved quality of life. This is why Black Men United's proposal is heavily focused on vocational and entrepreneurship training.
Nothing like this has been done in the history of North Omaha. Black Men United will create a grassroots-oriented service ecosystem. This ecosystem will connect the human service, workforce, and entrepreneurial sectors for (mostly) low-income North Omaha residents. It will be grounded in high-quality education and training in the community and a referral system and database that will connect the dots and strengthen partner and client relationships in the community.
New businesses started, existing businesses scaled, new capital invested in businesses, new and existing business job creation, new construction and tech workers trained, reduction in food insecurity, reduction in recidivism, perception of North Omaha increasing, desirability to live in North Omaha increasing, perception of quality of life in North Omaha increasing.
Black Men United recommends that, in partnership with the community, the University of Nebraska Omaha create a North Omaha scorecard that measures the factors mentioned.
Yes. The entrepreneurs will need investment. In particular, in year 2025 of entrepreneurship programming, the high-growth entrepreneurs trained and developed will provide equity investment opportunities.
Yes
We have formal partnerships with New Life Family Alliance (Sudanese) and Generation Diamond (Hispanic). We have strong partnerships with the Nebraska Department of Corrections, North Omaha Pride Association (Black contractors), Carpenters Union, and a wide variety of food pantry partners from the corporate sector, nonprofit sector, and community. In addition, we partner with Nebraska Enterprise Fund, Black Agenda Alliance, and many others. These partners either provide program support, and referrals, or host events and activities.
New Life Family Alliance, Generation Diamond.
No
BMU's existing property is located on 4200 N 30th St. it is 9000 SF, which includes classroom space, office space, and a warehouse bay. The new property is located on 1920 Dorcas St. It consists of 33,000 SF of warehouse space, and 8,700 SF of office space.
Within one or more QCTs
Uploading some documents. We do not currently own or have a purchase contract with the new site.
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
No
TSR Construction provided a general estimate.
Yes
No
We will be using Black contractors from the North Omaha Pride Association, led by our general contractor Tony Reynolds
The property listing and pro-forma is attached.
Capital expenditures, which include facility acquisition, redevelopment, and major equipment comprise 50% of this request. The other 40% will be spent on direct programming development and execution, and 10% on general organizational management and expenses.
Yes
BMU currently has an operating budget of half a million dollars per year, and pre-ARPA funding anticipated the budget grow to $600,000. The expansion of the budget with ARPA funds would be supported by the hiring of a CPA, and supported by new managerial staff.
State of Nebraska - $750,000 Sherwood Foundation - $450,000 committed through 2023, estimated $800,000 through 2025. Other Foundations (Weitz, Lozier) - $80,000 through 2023, estimated $100,000 through 2025. Earned revenue - $507,000 estimated through 2025.
Our primary non-state funder Sherwood, will let us know of renewed funding in 2023.
No
It is both scalable and can be completed in smaller components.
Each program can be expanded or scaled back contingent on total funding awarded. Outside of increased fixed costs of a new location, many of the programs can be scaled smaller and be done at the current location.
Of the total proposal costs of $5,900,000 BMU plans to use $1,800,000 of its own funding through 2025.
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Additional Location Documents (see application for list) Data table of uses (breakdown of how the requested funds will be used for your proposal) Organizational Chart Pro Forma Proposal Budget/Sources and Uses