OMAHA, Neb (KMTV) — Gov. Jim Pillen has been visiting communities across Nebraska since taking office in January.
He has made a lot of stops and, on Friday, he finally made it to North Omaha.
“I think the first thing, the biggest step is building relationships. It's really important we have eyeball-to-eyeball communication and to trust each other and get to know who we are and where we each come from,” said Pillen.
At Mt. Moriah Baptist Church Pillen met with community leaders and local state senators to get more familiar with the problems facing North Omaha.
They touched on a number of problems facing the community from housing and education to prison reform.
“It's important that we have great economic development in our communities. All of our communities have some of the same problems. We have drug problems, we have mental health problems, we have poverty across the state. All of us together have got to solve that,” said Pillen.
That economic development has been a top priority for Senator Terrell Mckinney, who represents North Omaha.
Much of the potential for development is coming from ARPA funding approved by the legislature last year, but most of those funds have yet to be disbursed.
“We are trying to figure that out. LB 531 will be up next week and we are hoping to get it to final reading. We are working through the amendment and process going forward to make sure we get it out as fast as possible so people aren’t waiting, wondering what’s going on,” said McKinney.
Rather than wade through complicated ARPA regulations McKinney and Pillen are hoping to re-route that funding into the state general fund so it will be easier to disburse.
“Because of the deadline, we are trying to utilize it as much as possible. ARPA has a lot of restrictions attached to it that a lot of organizations in the community would have a difficult time navigating and we want to make it as easy as possible," McKinney said.
Pillen said he hopes to continue to collaborate with community leaders to find the best ways to help North Omaha.
“I think it's good to have an olive branch and have a governor that’s willing to come to the community and see what’s going on and engage with the people. We might not agree with everything but at least having an open line of communication is the best thing for us moving forward,” said McKinney.
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