Solid Foundation Key to Building Bright Futures
by Michaela Saunders, Omaha World Herald
May 25, 2007
The leaders of four task forces that will help carry out the vision of Building Bright Futures were named today.
They include Mayor Mike Fahey, an assistant Omaha schools superintendent and the vice chancellor of the University of Nebraska Medical Center.
The public-private partnership is aimed at turning around the lives of low-income and at-risk Omaha children.
Since the six-pronged initiative was announced last month, its leaders have been going over details in hope of giving the effort its best chance at success.
"It's more important to do it well than to do it quickly," Susie Buffett said when the effort was announced. "It has to be done in a thoughtful way."
Buffett is a Building Bright Futures executive board member and a supporter of early childhood education. She and other board members met today at the Omaha Home for Boys to put the final touches on their plan for accomplishing the work behind the dream.
The initiative is the product of nearly two years of research into the needs of Omaha and the services already available.
Six key areas were identified in that research: early childhood education and development; academic support and career awareness; after-school opportunities, mentoring and tutoring; truancy reduction; adolescent behavioral health; and scholarships for higher education.
The task forces will develop plans in each area to ensure that Omaha's impoverished youths come to school ready to learn, get the help they need to achieve and ultimately reach their potential.
The leaders of four of the task forces are:
• Mayor Fahey, who will head the task force on after-school opportunities, tutoring and mentoring.
• Dr. Rubens Pamies, vice chancellor at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, who will lead efforts in adolescent behavioral health. Dr. Richard O'Brien will be the vice chairman. He is a professor in Creighton University's Center for Health Policy and Ethics.
• Jerry Bartee, an assistant superintendent of the Omaha Public Schools, who will head the task force on truancy prevention.
• Jessie Rasmussen, who will lead the effort on early childhood education and development. She is vice president of the Buffett Early Childhood Fund and the early childhood policy director of the Nebraska Children and Families Foundation.
Still to be named are the leaders of the task forces focused on academic support/career awareness and scholarships.
Board members - among them Richard Holland and Michael Yanney - say they will commit their own money to the programs. They also will seek private grants and public funds to make the project's goals work, including a college scholarship for every low-income high school graduate in the metro area.
The Omaha Community Foundation has agreed to join the effort to manage grants, contributions and funds.
The group is counting on other partners, too - including the hundreds of Omahans who have called Executive Director John Cavanaugh in the last month to volunteer.
Superintendents from all Douglas and Sarpy County school districts are involved, along with top officials from the University of Nebraska system and all of Omaha's higher education institutions.
Cavanaugh said organizations ranging from the Omaha Empowerment Network to the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce are involved.
Building Bright Futures started with research. That research won't stop. Omaha's Gallup University has been contracted to manage the task forces. The California-based SRI International research firm will provide other support services. Both groups will keep data on task force progress and implementation.
Bright Futures board members have said other cities are already monitoring Omaha's effort with an eye on possible duplication.
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