We are thrilled to announce that Nyomi Troy Thompson has joined the OpenSky team as a health policy analyst! Nyomi will focus on food security and other health-related policies.
Nyomi, pictured here, recently graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a Master’s of Social Work and Master’s of Science in Social Policy, specializing in community research and evaluation. She also has a Bachelor’s in Social Work from The Ohio State University.
Panelists announced for Wednesday’s Policy and Equity webinar
In our ongoing webinar series, OpenSky is exploring the intersection of public policy and racial and ethnic equity in Nebraska. The fourth and final webinar, which is set for this Wednesday at 10 a.m., will focus on concrete, actionable steps policymakers can take to improve racial and ethnic equity.
As our panel will outline, many options are available that would have significant benefits not just for communities of color, but the state overall. These could include targeted investments supporting entrepreneurship among communities of color, which would help recipients build wealth and potentially close those gaps in economic health shown in our first panel. Likewise, increased funding supporting broader access to mental health services could help prevent early involvement in the corrections system and potentially close gaps in incarceration rates. Furthermore, policies that better protect the health of frontline workers — many of whom are people of color — would better protect all Nebraskans as well as our economy.
The webinar, which will be moderated by Sen. Tony Vargas of Omaha, will feature:
- Kenny McMorris, Chief Executive Office of Charles Drew Health Center, Inc., who will discuss health care policy recommendations;
- Dr. Mark Foxall, Community Service Associate at the University of Nebraska-Omaha and former Director of the Douglas County Corrections Department, who will focus on corrections policy solutions;
- Dell Gines, Senior Community Development Advisor for the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, who will bring an entrepreneurship and economic development perspective to the conversation; and
- Micky Devitt, Legal and Policy Coordinator at the Heartland Workers Center, who will discuss policy solutions related to worker protections.