Heart Ministry Center: Heart & Soul for Omaha’s Underserved

It’s difficult to simply state everything Heart Ministry Center does. They are a food pantry, a social services organization, a health clinic, a job training and workforce development program, a counselor, a future, a friend, a lifeline.

Heart Ministry Center serves Omaha, Nebraska, residents who are living in poverty, focusing its programs, services and support on creating sustainable and fundamental progress for all.

“People think of poverty as just being financial, but financial poverty goes hand-in-hand with physical, emotional and spiritual poverty,” said Dom Rahn, Chief Executive Officer of Heart Ministry Center. “Heart Ministry Center addresses the needs of the whole person, treating them with dignity and respect when they’re at their most vulnerable.”

Working for a Living

While Heart Ministry Center is many things to many people, at its core, it’s a workforce development program that provides all the wrap-around services individuals need to gain and sustain employment.

Of particular note is their Fresh Start Program, an intensive and immersive 15- to 20-week program focused on mental and physical health, money and household management and job skills as well as interpersonal communication, personal accountability, attitude and work ethic.

“The people we serve face barriers to success that many of us can’t imagine,” said Dom. “About 90% of program participants have been incarcerated, 85% are in recovery, many live in group homes. These are people already on their second or third chance. There’s a lot working against them, but we show them we believe in them and we want them to succeed in life.”

The Fresh Start Program not only prepares participants for work, but through Heart Ministry Center’s Choice Food Distribution Program and Eugene Williams Food Pantry, FRESH Floral and Fresh Start Laundromat, it also employs them. By working in these enterprises, program graduates get resume-building work experience while benefitting from highly attentive hands-on case management.

Keeping Pace with Technology

Given their circumstances, many Fresh Start Program participants haven’t had the opportunity to keep up with consumer technology. They may not own computers or cell phones. They may not know how to navigate the Internet or send emails, none-the-less perform potential job duties or use job-specific apps.

“About four years ago, we realized that Fresh Start was missing a critical tool for participant success. We weren’t giving participants access to technology or teaching them how to use it,” said Dom. “How can we expect our graduates to get and hold a job if they haven’t had exposure to even the most basic technology that most of us take for granted?”

That need ultimately made its way to Mike Anthony, Director of Project Management in our Des Moines office. While building Storz Warehouse, a 150,000-square-foot speculative industrial/flex building in Omaha, our project partner, GreenSlate Development, introduced Mike to Heart Ministry Center, and he and other Des Moines associates toured the campus.

“We were all really touched by what Heart Ministry Center does to help community members rise above their circumstances. GreenSlate was a longtime supporter of theirs, and we wanted to find a meaningful way to support them as well,” Mike said. “We connected them to the Foundation, and we’re genuinely thrilled that the Foundation has supported them now two years in a row.”

Specifically, the Opus Foundation provided Heart Ministry Center with a $50,000 Impact Fund grant in December 2023 to pilot the digital literacy program and a $75,000 Impact Fund grant in December 2024 to continue its support of the Fresh Start Program, including its digital literacy efforts.

“To receive such significant funding in 2023 to get our technology efforts off the ground was such a blessing. But to receive a second grant to help us sustain and expand those efforts was manna from heaven,” exclaimed Dom.

Dom anticipates 45 Fresh Start Program participants will directly benefit from the Foundation’s most recent grant.