OMAHA — The yellow house on Pinkney Street packs a powerful 125-year history — one that has intertwined with Mitzi Johnson’s entire life, as well as generations of family members who lived there before her.

Parts of the past were ugly. Redlining and discriminatory loan practices dating back to the Great Depression beset the North Omaha neighborhood where the 1.5-story home rose in 1899.

While fair housing laws of the 1960s outlawed racially-motivated redlining, negative impacts of steering investment elsewhere lingered in ways that experts say stunted economic growth and wealth-building in the area. Many residents fled.

Johnson, 49, stayed and eventually bought the house that’s been her family’s base since great-grandparents John and Annie Carter moved there more than a half-century ago.

Now the household is part of a turnaround effort — the Greenlining Fund, which is administered by the nonprofit Front Porch Investments and aimed at reversing ill effects of past redlining practices in parts of North and South Omaha.

Reinvesting In Disinvested Areas

Fueled by philanthropic donations, the fund is designed to “reinvest” about $1 million annually to foster homeownership and build wealth in those areas that are among Nebraska’s most disenfranchised.

In the Johnsons’ case, Mitzi and husband Corey were awarded, through a selection process, zero-interest financing to revamp the house built originally with two bedrooms. Now 1623 Pinkney has a rebuilt front entrance, a new kitchen and new heating and air systems.

Johnson is beaming.

“My family’s history is in this house,” she said. “The memories I have growing up. The conversations in these walls. The people who have walked through those doors. Hopefully it will one day be a space for my grandchildren’s children to come visit me when I’m the great grandmother.”

The Greenlining Fund’s pilot year focused on providing zero-interest loans of up to $50,000 to eligible homeowners, with loan repayments returned to the fund. So far nine households, including the Johnsons, have completed loan-covered renovations that help ensure their properties can stay in the family and build generational wealth, said Jody Holston, executive director of Front Porch.

“It’s been overwhelmingly positive,” Holston said.

For the second-year programming set to launch in 2025, the community advisory committee that guides the fund recommended awarding $999,480 to three agencies that will disburse money to clients and projects.

Launching In 2025

The three receiving funding are:

• Project Houseworks, which received $580,000 to provide no-cost home repairs and renovations for low-income families and older homeowners in North and South Omaha.
• Canopy South, which received $350,000 to launch a home renovation program that will rehab homes in previously deemed “hazardous” and redlined areas of South Omaha.
• Volunteers Assisting Seniors, which received $69,480 to raise awareness of Nebraska’s Homestead Exemption program. That program helps older, low-income and other eligible homeowners in formerly redlined neighborhoods receive property tax relief and avoid being forced to move.

A key element of the program, says Yolanda Williams, Front Porch’s housing justice and grants manager, is the advisory committee made up of people who were impacted by historical redlining and systematic disinvestment and therefore understand challenges in affected communities.

That committee, along with the Greenlining Fund and Front Porch itself, all were created in response to needs identified in a 105-page housing affordability and needs assessment study completed in 2021. The study was commissioned by nine local philanthropic groups that wanted to get a better grip on the need for affordable housing in the area.

Front Porch was formed to lead housing efforts that sprang out of private and public seed funding.

Stark Contrast

Among Greenlining advisory committee members is Stephanie Finklea, who spent many childhood days at grandma’s home near 24th and Sprague Streets in North Omaha. Now owner and operator of Black Chick Farm, Finklea couldn’t help but notice as a youth the stark contrast between investment in grandma’s neighborhood compared to others in the metro area.

“My experiences have led me to understand how important homeownership is in connection with financial wellbeing and generational wealth,” said Finklea. “The history of redlining and disinvestment has denied oppressed people access to economic stability.”

The advisory board member more recently has witnessed an “increase in pride and hope” in people who have received support from the fund.

For Johnson, whose IT job allows her to mostly work from home, the loan helped kickstart improvements she envisioned for years but didn’t pursue because credit hurdles stood in the way.

Historically, redlining limited access to credit, opportunities and investments in predominantly Black and Latino neighborhoods. Experts say affected areas and families often still struggle with unequal playing fields.

The Pinkney Street house for tax purposes was valued at about $57,000 last year and now is valued at about $68,000. Johnson said, to her, it never lost sentimental value.

Her mom and her mom’s six siblings were raised in the neighborhood by their grandparents, who moved to Omaha from Mississippi. Johnson’s great grandparents bought the house in 1972.

After Johnson graduated high school and her great grandparents passed, she and a couple of cousins and a close friend lived in the house. Over the years, third and fourth bedrooms were added in the attic and basement.

Many family and friends have moved on and out of the neighborhood, but Johnson stayed at the Pinkney Street home through marriage and raising two children.

She drives her grandson to school a few times a week and smiles that he attends the same Lothrop Elementary School she did.

Neighbor Curiosity

Her home improvements have sparked curiosity among neighbors, who have asked about the changes.

Gone is the rope that had cordoned off hazardous, soft flooring on the Johnsons’ front porch.

“Now we don’t have to fear our grandkids are going to fall through it,” said Johnson.

She adores the new kitchen, and even looks forward to cooking for extended family gatherings.

“It was so dark and gloomy before,” she said.

Another element of the project Johnson said she appreciated was working with a Black female-owned local construction company, Blair Freeman. She viewed the Greenlining subcontractor as a sign of progression within the community.

Holston said priority candidates for the fund are longtime community members who benefit from a chance to improve property and pass on wealth to their kids.

“Families that haven’t received the investment they deserved,” she said.

Johnson said there is “definitely still work to be done” to lift her childhood and adult stomping grounds socially and economically, though she said she’s seeing progress.

“This is personal for me — to be and stay part of this community,” she said.

This story was published by Nebraska Examiner, an editorially independent newsroom providing a hard-hitting, daily flow of news. Read the original article: https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2024/12/25/house-on-omahas-pinkney-street-h...