Blueprint Nebraska releases economic plan for future of the state

On Tuesday, a state-wide Nebraska economic report 14 months in the making was released to the public.

It’s called the Nebraska Blueprint report.

With the help of around 7,000 people who were surveyed from around the state, it seeks to identify the areas that the state must address to achieve economic prosperity.

“The workforce issue is clearly becoming the number one issue economically in the state. Low population growth, more young people leaving, we need to do a better job of connecting our young people to our communities and opportunities in the state because there are plenty of them,” said Bryan Slone, with the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce.

The Blueprint report was released in a press conference broadcast live from Lincoln, Omaha and Broken Bow, Nebraska.

The survey shows that young professionals care about high paying jobs as well as the effect technology has on the economy.

Kayla Meyer talked about her experience as a young professional who recently started her own family here in the state.

She says to her, there are two things that her demographic is looking closely at when making decisions about where to start a family.

“The two things that really hit me the most were diversity and inclusion, that is huge, we want to be a welcoming state to everyone. And we need to be able to have affordable housing and livable housing, and I think that is just a really important thing for young professionals,” said Meyer.

The vision outlined in the report has a goal of completion by the year 2030.

“Where we are best in the country is quality of life, and we need to sell it and develop it and make this into a winning strategy,” said Slone.

If you’d like to take a look at the full report itself, head to https://blueprint-nebraska.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/BlueprintNE_Summary.pdf or Blueprint-Nebraska.org.