Because of Prosper Lincoln’s work over the past three years, nearly 250 people have jobs, 110 low-income children have access to quality child care and there are systems in place to make the numbers continue to rise.
Those are among the successes noted by leaders of the community initiative known as Prosper Lincoln as they move on to the next phase, the details of which will be announced at a Tuesday morning summit at Pinnacle Bank Arena.
Like a similar summit announcing the group’s goals three years earlier, at least 1,000 people are expected to attend, said Lincoln Community Foundation vice president for marketing Jenny Chapin. The community foundation is the lead agency for Prosper Lincoln.
“Basically, the summit is going to be the jumping-off point for the next phase for Prosper Lincoln,†she said.
The group will share the latest “vital signs†— a report showing Lincoln’s strengths and weaknesses.
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“I think certainly we’ve made big strides in the current strategic plan. I think the vital signs will show how there’s much more work to be done,†Chapin said. “The data will drive the community agenda to the next phase."
At the last summit, leaders announced three areas of focus: early childhood, employment skills and innovation. On that day three years ago, the group jump-started one of its initiatives: to encourage adults to read aloud to a child 15 minutes a day.
Today, more than 36,000 books have been distributed to families as part of that Read Aloud Lincoln initiative.
Prosper Lincoln's employment arm, headed by Bryan Seck, created EmployLNK, a collaborative that works with a host of workforce development agencies and acts as a single point of contact for businesses looking for potential employees.
The collaborative organizes career fairs for veterans, adults and students and a “reverse pitch†job fair for case managers to learn about jobs in the community. They serve more than 5,000 Lincoln residents, Seck said.
In addition to connecting workforce agencies to employers, EmployLNK also helps social service agencies trying to help clients find jobs.
At least 250 people have gotten jobs through that process, he said.
Prosper Lincoln leaders also got a grant to help skilled immigrants — people who were doctors and nurses, teachers and lawyers in their home countries — go through the process necessary to do that work here.
A MyLNK app created a one-stop shop with information from all Lincoln’s nonprofit services, making it easy for people to search and find the help they need, Seck said.
In the area of early childhood education, led by Michelle Suarez, a Lincoln Littles Early Childhood Initiative raised money to help subsidize high-quality child care for low-income families.
As a result, 110 children from low-income families now have high-quality child care, Chapin said.
With the help of Prosper Lincoln, TMCO, a local manufacturing company, opened a child care facility for employees and is training interested spouses to be child care providers, Seck said.
In the area of innovation, led by Rich Claussen, high school students are able to identify their aptitude for entrepreneurship through an assessment created by Gallup and provided free to high school freshmen and business clubs in Lincoln’s schools.
Students identified through the assessment are invited to an inspiration rally on Innovation Campus and encouraged to participate in a University of Nebraska College of Business boot camp.
Chapin said Prosper Lincoln's next phase will build on the work that's already been done.
"It's broadening and deepening the focus areas,†she said.