- The Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce shared their 2025 economic development strategy.
- Key focus areas include: Strategic Business Growth, Brain Gain, and promoting Omaha as a destination.
- The annual meeting highlighted the importance of retaining young talent for the city's future.
- Efforts will target attracting new businesses and improving the overall appeal of Omaha.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
‘Brain Drain’ is a phenomena no thriving city wants to be a part of. Unfortunately, the last few years many college graduates and young adults have been leaving Omaha. The Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce says reversing this issue is a big part of their 2025 Economic Development Strategy.
Thursday the chamber held their annual meeting and shared three main areas of interest for the new year:
· Strategic Business Growth
· Brain Gain
· Destination: Omaha
Chamber President and CEO Heath Mello says to create a better quality of life for our neighbors, job opportunities and economic development are needed.
“To be able to attract new businesses to the region and be able to focus on really our ability to not just grow our workforce but more importantly retain and attract new talent to the region is perhaps our two top priorities for the 2025 year,” said Mello.
Mello says there are two initiatives to reverse brain drain. One, is the Back to Omaha Campaign. It’s focused on bringing individuals that have left or have strong ties to the city back.
The second, is designed to connect with current college graduates in the metro.
“We know it's not just about their career but it's also about what they want to do after they leave the office or leave the workplace at the end of the day,” said Mello.
According to an University of Nebraska Omaha study, about 4,600 people left the state in 2022. Mello says this number is growing.
“The brain gain focus that the Greater Omaha Chamber is going to have really is, is overwhelmingly a top priority because if we don't try to work on this crisis now, we're afraid of what may happen in the future,” said Mello.
In August, KMTV spoke Josie Schafer, a UNO professor who worked on the study, about these issues. She said it’s not just about things like infrastructure. Young adults are putting roots down in communities that share their same values.
“They also care about inclusion and feeling valued and great opportunities across their lifetime, having a quality of life that meets my needs, also being surrounded with people like me that share similar values,” said Schafer.
Though some young professionals are leaving. Mark Wong says Omaha is a great place to live and is encouraging other people in his age range to get involved in the community.
“I think as long as you put your brain to it and if you have the effort that you want so you can seek out a lot of opportunities to get involved in Omaha and help try to make the community a better place to live,” said Wong.
Thursday, the chamber also celebrated 2024 milestones, $172 million dollars in capital investment and 510 jobs were created.
