The Omaha metropolitan area has an extensive and difficult history for African Americans, including the lynching of George Smith and Willie Brown, mob terrorism, and redlining. Even still, our community is enriched by the contributions and collective energy of African Americans.

During Black History Month, the Omaha Community Foundation believes it is not only important to celebrate the organizations, initiatives, and work led by African American community members, but acknowledge a difficult past, that includes systemic racism and segregation.In our partnership with the Center for Equity and Inclusion (CEI), Foundation staff were able to address their own personal biases and how inequities may play out in the work we do, even if unintentionally.

Through our work with Community Interest Funds, African American Unity Fund (AAUF), Omaha Gives!, and listening via The Landscape, we are working to ensure that this community is and remains to be inclusive, accepting and celebratory of all.

Below, find a list of the 2019 AAUF grant recipients—organizations who are either led by or have initiatives dedicated to the improvement and investment of the black community in Omaha, we encourage you to familiarize yourself with their work and find ways to get involved.