Applications are now open for the 2025 Step-Up Omaha (StepUpOmaha.com) community youth initiative. As a program dedicated to providing career exploration, job opportunities, internships and entrepreneurship avenues for youth and young adults aged 14-21, Step-Up Omaha provides participants with the skills needed for long-term career success.
“Step-Up Omaha offers our youth the chance to gain invaluable skills and experiences that shape their futures,” said Willie Barney, CEO and founder, Empowerment Network. “It shows our talented youth what is possible in their own hometown.”
The Empowerment Network and its partners have collaborated successfully to present Step-Up Omaha for 17 years. Since 2008, Step-Up partners have introduced more than 9,000 individuals to job training and career pathways. Wages range from $10 to $14 or more per hour, depending on the worksite.
Step-Up Omaha is supported by a collaborative network of funders and employers, including, the American National Bank, Charles E. Lakin Foundation, CHI Health, City of Omaha, Cox Communications, Google, Mutual of Omaha, Nebraska Department of Economic Development and United Way of the Midlands. Additionally, Step-Up Omaha partners with the Obama Foundation’s My Brother’s Keeper (MBK) Alliance, a program that seeks to positively shift outcomes for boys and young men of color in Omaha through the implementation of evidence-based practices, which address six MBK milestones, cradle to career, during a young person’s life.
This year’s program will run from Monday, June 2 to Friday, Aug. 1. Applications are due by March 3. For more information, visit StepUpOmaha.com.