In a webinar series launching Wednesday, OpenSky will explore racial and ethnic equity in Nebraska, as manifested in key policy areas like education, housing, health care and corrections.

The first webinar, which starts at 10 a.m., will feature a presentation from the University of Nebraska Omaha’s Dr. Barbara Gomez-Aguinaga and a panel discussion that focuses on the current state of race and ethnic equity in the policy areas noted above, including a look at gaps in homeownership rates that have widened over time.

Over the past two decades, an already wide gap in homeownership between white Nebraskans and Nebraskans of color has been growing, U.S. Census data show. (See chart below.) In 2000, the percentage of Black Nebraskans who owned homes was slightly more than half that of their white counterparts and has since decreased by more than nine percentage points — double the national rate of decline — while their median household incomes have also decreased by 13%. Over that same period, white homeownership increased slightly (0.3%) and median incomes grew 2.9%.

Dr. Erin Feichtinger of Together Omaha will discuss housing during Wednesday’s panel, which will also feature comments from Dr. Cheryl Logan, Superintendent of Omaha Public Schools; Sen. Danielle Conrad, a former state senator from District 46 in Lincoln and the current Executive Director of ACLU-Nebraska; and Dr. Donna Polk, Executive Director of the Nebraska Urban Indian Health Coalition.

You can register for this webinar as well as the rest of our Policy and Equity series here.

The remaining schedule of the webinars, which will be held each Wednesday in October at 10 a.m. and feature panel discussions with local, state and national leaders and experts, is as follows:

  • Oct. 14 — This webinar will explore historic policy choices and their ongoing impact on racial and ethnic equity;
  • Oct. 21 — This discussion will center on the importance of and the opportunities presented by acting proactively to increase racial and ethnic equity in Nebraska.
  • Oct. 28 — The series will conclude with a conversation about policies that Nebraska can enact to increase racial and ethnic equity going forward.

More details about future sessions will be published soon but we encourage you to reserve your spot today!