The objective of Thriving Places is to support local efforts to building thriving communities. Our priority strategies include:
Community Capacity in Greater Nebraska
Goal: Strengthen communities’ ability to pursue their own future.
We have a particular focus on assisting communities working hard to improve their own circumstances.
Quality of Place Amenities
Goal: Invest in and increase access to quality civic, cultural, and recreational amenities.
We have particular focus on supporting projects such as libraries, parks, playgrounds, pools, arts and culture spaces, and trails that deliver community-wide benefit.
Our Work in Action
Grantee Feature: Prairie Loft Center, Hastings, NE.
Grant: $100,000 capital grant for the construction of an education center.
Executive Director, Amy Sandeen, on Family Outdoor Club, clients served, and center use:
“Our family outdoor club is geared towards 2-8 year-olds with their grown-ups, it is intergenerational and that is another thing we work really hard to do is to make sure they can go home and have a shared experience.”
Current & Special Initiatives
From time to time, the foundation develops targeted grant programs and special initiatives to address specific areas of need. The foundation’s current Thriving Places initiatives include:
ArtStock
ArtStock provides capacity building grants to arts and culture nonprofits in the Omaha area to build organizational capacity, strengthen financial sustainability and improve operations. ArtStock also seeks to strengthen the vibrancy of the Omaha metro arts and culture environment by offering a learning and capacity building series that is co-designed and presented with grantees. For a list of current ArtStock grantees please click here. For additional information contact Paul Ternes.
ArtStock Support
Impact: The 2019–2020 funding cycle provided nearly $650,000 in grants to 31 grantees.
Partnerships: A new partnership was formed with Amplify Arts to serve as project lead to create greater assistance and reach within the larger arts community.
Significance: ArtStock’s effect on the arts-and-culture scene in the Omaha metro is palpable. So far, there’s been a lot more collaboration among nonprofits within the arts and culture sector, improved organizational sustainability, and more Omahans getting out and attending programs and performances.
Click here to watch more videos showing how ArtStock has helped grantees elevate the local arts-and-culture community.
Neighborhood Grants Program
Peter Kiewit Foundation proudly supports four community interest funds housed at the Omaha Community Foundation. These funds build the philanthropic capacity of community leaders and provide grants to community-based initiatives and organizations in the following areas:
- Omaha Neighborhood Grants: Strengthening Omaha by engaging residents on neighborhood-led projects
- African American Unity Fund: Supporting initiatives and organizations that benefit the African American community
- Futuro Latino Fund: Supporting initiatives and organizations that benefit Latino communities
- Equality Fund for LGBTQIA+: Cultivating a community that supports, includes, and respects lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual, and non‑binary individuals and families