North Omaha nonprofits team up to benefit each other, community

OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) - A couple of nonprofits have teamed up to improve the looks of a north Omaha neighborhood and, at the same time, increase educational opportunities.

Two homes stand near 22nd and Grant Street. Both were built in the 1900s, and both have seen better days. In short, they need to be demolished.

But not before Habitat for Humanity Omaha gets a chance to save the parts of the homes that can be reused. Then, they’ll take down the old houses, making way for the expansion of the Jesuit Academy that sits just south of the reconstruction project.

“[The Jesuit Academy is] a nonprofit as well,” said Molly Toberer with Habitat Omaha. “They came to us for help because the whole new construction process is going to be costly. We’re going to help defray some of those costs by using a grant to salvage all these materials and work together as community partners.”

Dr. Bradley Ekwerekwu, the President of the Jesuit Academy, appreciates the help. It’s a big step for expansion and the academy really needs to grow.

“I think the time is now,” Dr. Ekwerekwu said. “There are a number of students having a high level of success at the building and what’s even more daunting is there’s a waitlist out the wazoo right now. For every 15 kids who get accepted, there’s a waitlist of about 120 some year sup to even 140 to enter this building.”

Academy officials have plans to replace these old buildings with tools that will help students grow in science and fine arts.

“[We want] to be able to have more classroom space for community arts and thigs like that,” Dr. Ekwerekwu said. “Jesuit Academy is very well known for their athletics as well, so we’re maybe going to do some upgrades to our athletic facilities. Past that, it’s up to our dreamers.”

Habitat Omaha is helping those dreamers by clearing out these old homes and making a path for the future.

Officials at the academy told 6 News that they’re in the early stages of expansion but they hope to have it complete within the next 3-5 years, depending on the scope of the project.