Our Legacy Nebraska
Our Legacy Nebraska is built on the foundation of our Common Ground Program. Our Legacy Nebraska works with community members in communities affected by environmental injustices. The program develops leadership and offers participants support in one-on-one coaching sessions, mini-grants, and training sessions. Communities involved include Lexington, Grand Island, Omaha, and South Sioux City. Each community has a cohort composed of 5 members, with 5 new members joining every year.
This is a three-year program. Year 1 is focused on training to develop members' skills in community organizing. Year 2 involves members organizing community events such as letter writing, assemblies, petitions, clean-ups, etc. Year 3 is continued community organizing and leaving behind a legacy of environmental justice advocacy.
Participants are paid $15 per hour during training sessions. Training sessions are in person or virtually depending on weather and timing. Sessions go for about 2-3 hours and are held once per month. Meals are provided. We try to accommodate and work with participants' schedules.
Communities Impacted
Residents living in these communities are disproportionally impacted by air and water pollution, caused by nitrates in the drinking water and the continual production of electricity by coal - which can lead to cancer and higher rates of asthma in children. Lead poisoning, especially among children, remains high due old pipes containing lead.
Current Work
Already our cohorts are hard at work developing strategies and campaigns to address these issues. In Omaha, our cohort is working on creating a centralized portal for all things related to lead. Omaha is home to the largest Lead EPA Superfund Site in the United States and our team is making sure we decrease the levels of lead poisoning. Visit this link OLN Omaha Lead to see how progress is going!
In Lexington, our team is working on creating a Welcoming Kit for incoming and current residents. Many services and important information is only available in English so our team is working on creating a Welcoming Kit that will include information such as how to set up and pay utilities, how to dispose of waste properly, know your rights as a tenet, how to get connected to the community, etc. We hope to have more information on our Welcoming Kit posted soon!
Apply Today!
Click on the link and complete our quick application. We are always accepting applications for next year participants. However, we could be in the middle of training a new cohort in your community so it may be a while until we review applications. For any questions about the program and application process, please contact Favian Mendez at fmendez@necv.org
