Nearly two dozen nonprofits in Douglas and Sarpy Counties are slated to receive grants totaling millions of dollars, the Nebraska Department of Economic Development announced Friday.
A total of $115 million in grant funding was set aside for Nebraska nonprofits with shovel-ready projects that were delayed by the pandemic. Seventy-six of the 125 organizations that applied for funding were approved, with awards ranging from $6,000 to renovate a community playhouse in York to more than $12.5 million for a sports complex in Columbus.
Just over $47 million of the total will be distributed to 23 nonprofits in Douglas and Sarpy Counties. The money will help fund projects from restoration of the ceiling in the Durham Museum’s Omaha Union Station to a multimillion-dollar outdoor athletics space at Marian High School.
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This funding comes via the Shovel-Ready Capital Recovery and Investment Act, a bill passed last year by Nebraska lawmakers aimed at helping nonprofits complete capital construction projects that were put on hold after the pandemic hit. The grant application was open to organizations with a focus on arts, culture and humanities and to nonprofits operating sports complexes.
Legislators approved using $100 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act dollars and $15 million from the state’s general fund to support the shovel-ready projects. Nonprofits also had to match the grants with at least an equal amount of privately raised dollars.
Grant recipients in Douglas and Sarpy Counties include:
Douglas County
- Omaha Zoological Foundation: $3.8 million to build an Alaska exhibition at the Henry Doorly Zoo & Aquarium.
- Joslyn Art Museum: $3.8 million for museum expansion.
- Omaha Performing Arts: $3.8 million to establish a center for arts engagement.
- Kaneko: $3.8 million.
- Elkhorn Athletic Association: $3.8 million.
- Metropolitan Entertainment and Convention Authority: $3.6 million to establish traffic safety barriers.
- Marian High School: $3 million for an outdoor athletic project.
- El Museo Latino: $2.1 million for “Elevating the Tradition” project.
- Lauritzen Gardens: $2 million to develop a “play and grow” area for children.
- The Union for Contemporary Art: $1.8 million.
- Nebraska Center for Workforce Development and Education: $1.5 million.
- The Collective for Hope: $1.4 million for education and support programming.
- Nebraska Wildlife Rehab: $1 million for a new rehabilitation center.
- The Durham Museum: $625,000 for restoration of art deco ceiling in Union Station.
- inCOMMON Community Development: $486,800.
- Bennington Soccer Club: $437,700 for development of Neumeyer Park Sports Complex.
- Holy Name Men’s Club: $350,000 for fieldhouse renovations.
- Benson Theatre: $276,000 for renovations and restoration.
- Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts: $250,000.
- Omaha Children’s Museum: $80,000 for projects delayed by COVID.
Sarpy County
- Nebraska Multi-Sport Complex: $12.6 million for development of sports complex in La Vista.
- Nebraska Vietnam Veterans Memorial Association: $1.2 million.
- Sarpy County YMCA: $250,000 for construction and renovations.
Our best Omaha staff photos & videos of June 2022
A deer looks back at a fallen tree on Terry Avenue near Sherry Drive in Bellevue, Nebraska on Wednesday. A storm came through overnight bringing high winds.
Rick Trapani clears out a storm drain after a car got stuck in floodwaters near 40th and Valley Streets in Omaha on Tuesday. Rain and hail from a storm pelted the area.
A sea lion swims under tree debris that washed into the Owen Sea Lion Shores exhibit at Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium on Tuesday. A hail storm the night before shredded leaves of many plants in parts of Omaha, Nebraska, leaving piles of plant debris. “I am sure some of the animals were startled by the storm, like the rest of us, but they don’t mind the debris and ‘messiness” as much as us humans. To a lot of the animals, the leaves and twigs, like in the photo with the sea lions, are considered enrichment and new things to explore, ” said Dennis Schnurbusch, Senior Vice President and COO of Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium
Jerry Swiercek uses a leaf blower to clear hail and leaves stripped from trees following a hail storm outside the home he shares with his wife, Annette, at 44th Avenue and F Street in Omaha on Tuesday evening.
Haydn Nichols, 9, rides the Musical Chairs ride during Taste of Omaha at Elmwood Park in Omaha on Friday.
Andrea Vanderheyden, the artist behind this community art project, ties a ribbon to help create a pride flag on the corner of the Ashton building on Tuesday to kick off the start to Pride month.
A man sprays down the roof of a neighboring building while also filming the scene of a three-alarm fire at Nox-Crete, Inc., 1415 S. 20th St on Monday.
Flames shoot up at the scene of a three-alarm fire at Nox-Crete, Inc., 1415 S. 20th St on Monday.
Lighting can be seen behind the scene of a three-alarm fire at Nox-Crete, Inc., 1415 S. 20th St on Monday.
Drone photography after a three-alarm fire at the Nox-Crete chemical warehouse in Omaha on Tuesday.
Ben Crawford, a Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act assistant with the Winnebago Tribal Historic Preservation Office, watches as dogs search for the cemetery site.
