OMAHA- A North Omaha community forum that drew three elected officials and around 25 people touched upon an array of topics on Saturday and dug further into discussions surrounding a $90 million state grant for an airport area business park. The event, which was organized by the Nebraska Commission on African American Affairs, was held in part to hear how the state's Black community can work together to have more influence on high-dollar projects.

Some on the commission were concerned because elected leaders of North Omaha, Sens. Justin Wayne and Terrell McKinney, were not invited to be part of a dignitary lineup on January 10th that announced the recipients of nearly $125 million in public funding going towards North Omaha. Both senators, as well as Omaha City Councilwoman Juanita Johnson, were in attendance at Saturday's event.

"The community is last to the table," said Sen. McKinney, who also questioned why officials did not engage with members of the community during the planning and funding allocation process. Michael Maroney of the Omaha Economic Development Corp., which is helping to lead the development of a proposed business park in North Omaha, said that the development team did not want to reach out to members of the community to create "undue expectations" and "fear" before funding had been awarded.

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