The questions we ask shape our community stories, and those stories shape our community’s success. For the last 30 years, Nebraska Community Foundation (NebraskaHometown.org) has been working to change the questions we ask about our hometowns. Over the past five years, NCF has surveyed more than 4,000 high school-age students in 43 Greater Nebraska school districts. Here are a few highlights:
- Three-fourths reported no negative stigma with returning to or staying in the area they live now
- 76% feel connected to their hometown
- 59% said they are somewhat or extremely likely to live in the area they live now as an adult
- When asked to rank qualities of their ideal community, safety, good schools, and proximity to family consistently top the list
One of the most powerful questions we can ask young people is, “How do you want to play a role in your hometown?”
For many young Nebraskans, NCF’s Hometown Internships are helping provide an answer. Nebraska Community Foundation launched the program in 2019 to create an experience that brings young adults back home to see their communities through a different lens.
NCF has expanded and refined the program’s curriculum. Interns now participate in Operation Discovery, an educational component that encourages them to explore strategies grounded in mapping community assets and leading important conversations.
These experiences are having meaningful impacts on both the young adults and their local mentors, helping strengthen relationships, improve community narrative, and encourage investment of time, talent, and treasure in hometowns.
Young adults are not just discovering their communities—they are learning that they may want to come home someday. Some have already found jobs, joined local organizations and purchased homes. Even more interns have told us that they now imagine themselves returning to Greater Nebraska someday. Learn more about NCF’s work at NebraskaHometown.org.