During Economic Development Week, We Celebrate Progress and Push Toward the Future

Economic Development Week (May 11 – 17), is a time to spotlight the strategies, partnerships, and progress that power regions like ours and to share the story of how this work is building opportunity for all. At the Greater Omaha Chamber, we are proud to serve as the region’s lead economic developer, representing a powerful partnership across six counties and two states – Cass, Dodge, Douglas, Otoe, Sarpy, and Washington in Nebraska and Mills and Pottawattamie in Iowa. The collective nature of our economic development strategy is regional by design—and intentional in its impact.

In January, we unveiled the 2025 Greater Omaha Economic Development Strategy, a bold three-year roadmap to accelerate job growth, attract transformative investment, and make Greater Omaha the best place to build a business and a life. This plan reflects intensive research, listening to our stakeholders, and teamwork with economic leaders in our region. It focuses on three key goals: Strategic Business Growth, Brain Gain, and Destination: OMA.

Just months into this strategy, the momentum is real. We’ve already made significant progress—expanding outreach to high-growth industry clusters, deepening relationships with site selectors and investors, launching key industry initiatives, incorporating future-defining technology such as AI, and delivering new tools to connect small businesses to major projects through the Nebraska Opportunity Exchange. These early wins reinforce the power of proactive, unified economic development.

At its core, economic development is about improving lives. It’s about ensuring our region attracts the kinds of jobs that pay family-supporting wages, supports entrepreneurship, and builds vibrant communities where people want to live and raise families. That’s why our team works tirelessly behind the scenes to identify growth opportunities, advocate for competitive incentives, and align workforce development with industry demand.

We are also committed to making sure prosperity is shared more broadly. Through initiatives like REACH, which supports small contractors, and targeted business recruitment in untapped talent pipelines, we are helping build a more robust economy that gives everyone in Greater Omaha a stake in our success.

This work doesn’t happen in isolation. Our Chamber-led efforts are made possible by our incredible members and economic development partners and our elected officials – federal, state and local. The strength of our regional collaboration continues to be a competitive advantage as we compete on the national stage.

As we continue in this effort, I invite our business community and civic leaders to join us in pushing forward. Our region’s growth story is just beginning—and together, we have the vision, leadership, and partnerships to write the next chapter.

Let’s keep building a Greater Omaha—where we tap into our ambition and vision for our region and we get to work making it a reality.