Living United in the Big O

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.aflcio.org/atWork#!/community/103651



An Omaha, Neb., nonprofit community engagement center that provides emergency and preventive services for local poor children and adults had a dream. The group, called inCOMMON Community Development, wanted a location in Omaha’s Park Avenue neighborhood, where nearly half the children live in poverty—and found a building that could be an ideal community resource center. But the place was old and dilapidated and needed a lot of TLC.

Enter the Omaha Federation of Labor and Labor United. Marie Smith, Labor United’s AFL-CIO Community Services liaison, fielded a call from an ally who asked if the federation would be willing to help renovate the old low-slung industrial building for the nonprofit. Smith, impressed with “the energy and focus” of the inCOMMON team and its mission, introduced them to Terry Moore, president of the federation, and soon after to other local labor leaders, who agreed to the project after weeks of meetings and a tour of the dark and drafty shell on a cold February morning.

In addition to providing volunteer union labor, the Omaha area locals and contractors donated additional labor, equipment, supplies such as diamond-head core drills, service vehicles, lighting fixtures, steel support beams, ductwork, furnaces, insulation, bricks, flooring and tin ceiling tiles.

FULL story at link.