In The News

Omaha native Ed Shada is on a mission to end homelessness. Along the way, he wants to help people find steady jobs in the Nebraska workforce, where their talents are needed and sought after.

Angels Share, a charitable non-profit organization which is repurposing the former Dana College campus, has received $8.3 million in grants to renovate two buildings to house at-risk youth who have aged out of the foster care system as well as low income elderly people.

When Ed Shada walks around the former Dana College campus, greeting new residents at seemingly every turn, you'd never know the grounds sat vacant for nearly a decade.

"There's a lot of opportunities we're exploring, and it's all geared toward the youth," Shada said.

Shada and his non-profit Angels Share are leading redevelopment at the campus. The former owner Frank Krejci donated the land to this cause.

After years in foster care and a bout with homelessness, Gabriel Schueth has a place to call his own.

The 21-year-old is the first tenant for a program developed by Angels Share, a nonprofit aimed at helping youth aging out of foster care. Schueth signed his contract with Ed Shada, founder and president, and moved into his new apartment Tuesday on the former Dana College campus.

They would live in dorms or apartments and receive training in the trades. They also would be able to learn life skills, such as opening a bank account.

In total, Shada estimates the project would cost about $20 million in capital costs. He’s gotten $500,000 in grant funding for the project and identified $17 million more in grants. Now he’s hoping to raise donations for the rest of the $2.5 million, with the goal that the project will be ready to open before high school graduation in May.

Area businesses learned how Angels Share, a nonprofit aimed at helping youth aging out of foster care, could benefit both them and the youth during a videoconference call Wednesday afternoon.

Angels Share founder and president Ed Shada, Bobbi Jo Howard and Shane Donovan of Heartland Workforce Solutions and Mike Rooks, executive director of Gateway Development, presented the information.

After a decade without a building of its own and months of preparation, Christ Lutheran Church now has a permanent home.

The Blair church, which previously had a lease agreement with Angels Share, Inc., has purchased the first floor of the former Durham Classroom Center and Trinity Chapel on the former Dana College campus. Members of the congregation have spent hundreds, if not thousands of hours, volunteering to ready the facility.

Omaha developer Frank Krejci has donated the former Dana College campus in Blair, Nebraska, to an organization planning to offer housing and programs to low-income elderly, young people aging out of foster care and others.

The 21-year-old is the first tenant for a program developed by Angels Share, a nonprofit aimed at helping youth aging out of foster care. Schueth signed his contract with Ed Shada, founder and president, and moved into his new apartment Tuesday on the former Dana College campus.

A banker who leads a nonprofit wants to transform an old college campus in eastern Nebraska into a place where former foster care youths could live and learn trades.

The former Dana College campus in Blair would become a holistic site where foster youths who have aged out of state systems could live, learn and work.

They City of Blair is moving forward to solve several issues facing the community: a lack of housing and attracting a young work force among them.

The answer lies at the old Dana College site. Since the college shut down in 2010, the site has had suitors but nothing has developed. But that's changing.

The former Dana College campus in Blair has been vacant for eight years. Now, it's transforming into a place for good -- providing a community and safety net for kids aging out of foster care.