Barbara Weitz Community Engagement Center (CEC)
Long-Term Space Application for Community-based
Organizations
This application is intended for community-based organizations (e.g., a community-based nonprofit organization) that wish to use the Weitz CEC to house a new or existing initiative,
program, or partnership for a minimum of 6 months.
Completion Guidelines
For UNO Orrga
Instructions
Applications should be submitted by email to unocec@unomaha.edu no later than 5 p.m. on or
before Tuesday, August 28th, 2015. Both university and community-based organizations are
required to complete the application to be eligible for application review. Please note the
following:
The Weitz CEC Mission, Vision and Values
As a potential long-term resident of the Weitz CEC, it is important that each applicant
reviews, understands and is able to align with the mission, vision and values for effective
long-term university-community collaboration.
The Weitz CEC mission is to contribute positively and measurably to the community’s
quality of life by creating, supporting, and expanding mutually beneficial partnerships,
engaged scholarship, and academic and student programming that create tomorrow’s
leaders and agents of change.
Weitz CEC Vision: The dynamic programs, initiatives and partnerships fostered and
supported by the Weitz CEC will inspire generations of leaders, groundbreaking solutions, and
synergetic collaborations that will transform our community and campus into world-class
metropolitan partners.
Weitz CEC Values: Each applicant’s ability to align with the core values of the Weitz CEC’s
university/community partnership space will be a key factor in determining how the center’s
space will be allocated and prioritized. Applications seeking partnership space in the CEC
should indicate how they will address these four core values:
1. Collaboration: More than simply sharing space, collaboration implies organizations will
actively seek ways to work with UNO and their Weitz CEC neighbors to achieve
common goals and community benefit. We will place significant value on organizations
that are committed to working in this manner to identify, address, and solve problems
facing our metropolitan area, and that have a demonstrated history of working
collaboratively in our community, or the clear potential to do so in the future.
1
2. A dynamic culture fostering camaraderie and communication: We envision that
the environment of the Weitz CEC will be energized and ever-changing, with new
partnerships, initiatives, and activities frequently arising from co-location and new
connections. Preference will be given to partner organizations that are open to
organizational learning, new interactions and open channels of communication with the
UNO community, their Weitz CEC neighbors, and the broader metropolitan community.
3. Need and interest in being in the building is authentic and clear, and opportunity
to benefit from being in the Weitz CEC, rather than simply the space, is obvious:
The Weitz CEC should be considered a place where university and community
organizations can work side by side in a collaborative environment, rather than simply
available campus-based office space. Organizations seeking to be located in the Weitz
CEC must demonstrate how they will benefit being part of the Weitz CEC environment
and how they will contribute positively to its success through:
 Opportunities to work with students, faculty, staff and community organizations in
ways that derive reciprocal benefits. These may include:
o Offering student internships and/or service learning opportunities
o Participating in special lectures and seminars open to selected students
o Providing guest lectures
o Participating in mentoring programs
o Utilizing students and faculty for research and consultation
o Participating in special events to expose students to the operations of the
community partner and its impact on the community
 Collaborating with other community/university Weitz CEC partners in mutually
beneficial ways.
 Sharing news and lessons learned from the Weitz CEC experience through UNO
public relations materials, social media, and organizational communications.
 Working collaboratively within the Weitz CEC environment to ensure the overall
goals of the Weitz CEC are met
 Making an effort to being visible and present residents of the building. While clearly
all Weitz CEC residents have outreach and engagement as part of their missions,
inter-building and campus relationships cannot occur when building occupants are
never present. Successful Weitz CEC partners are those that attend Weitz CEC
partner and building events, have reasonable office hours, utilize the building for
informal and formal meetings, etc.
4. Be reflective of the diversity in the community from racial, ethnic, economic,
geographic and other perspectives. UNO is seeking a diverse range of organizations
for the Weitz CEC. It encourages nonprofit, government, educational, private and
organizations from both within and outside of the university and throughout the
community to apply for space. Applicant organizations should clearly identify their
target population(s), how they are served, and how services to this population would be
improved through the Weitz CEC.
2
Additional Values: Organizations seeking placement in the Weitz CEC should also have a
history of effective leadership and operations in terms of a board of advisors or directors and/or
management team. Applicants should provide evidence of the following in their application:
• Strong leadership and strategic thinking
• Financially viable organizations
• Transparency
• Flexibility in problem solving to resolve operational differences
Application Due Date and Review Process:
Applications are due by 5 p.m. on August, 28th via email in either PDF or Word format.
Applications will be reviewed by members of the Weitz CEC Building Advisory Committee.
Finalists will be interviewed by committee members in September 2015, with decisions for this
round made by late September, 2015. Future applications for long-term space will be
accepted on a rolling application basis with future deadlines to be announced.
The subcommittee will have both community and campus representation. Subcommittee
recommendations will be reported to the Weitz CEC Building Advisory Committee and
submitted to the Sr. Vice Chancellor for Academic and Student Affairs (or his designee) for
final approval.
Submission:
Please email the completed application (Sections 1, 2, 3 and 4) in either Word or PDF form to
unocec@unomaha.edu by 5 p.m. on Tuesday, August 28th. Please DO NOT mail or handdeliver applications. Please direct questions to Sara Woods or Heike Langdon at the contact
addresses below.
What Type of Organizations Can Apply to Be Weitz CEC Partners?
Please note that due to space availability, the Weitz CEC will be limiting this round of
applications to organizations seeking only one or two spaces in the building.
The following types of organizations are eligible to apply:
Nonprofit organizations
Grass-roots organizations that may be seeking nonprofit status
Multi-agency collaborations focused on a project for public benefit
Government projects or initiatives
Microenterprise (must have a major social entrepreneurship or public good/benefit component)
Higher education initiatives
Early childhood, K-12 and/or K-16 initiatives
Philanthropic initiatives, programs or organizations
3
Are there any type of organizations not best suited for Weitz CEC use?
Because of the open nature of Weitz CEC office space, the Weitz CEC is not generally suited
for organizations that intend to provide direct or confidential services to clients, e.g., advising,
counseling, treatment, one-to-one training, etc. Also, because of the extensive internal and
public demand for Weitz CEC’s meeting and workshop spaces, organizations that offer regular
and frequent training or classes as part of their mission may not find the Weitz CEC a suitable
home, as the ability to schedule multiple spaces on a daily or weekly basis is not possible.
Finally, organizations looking at the Weitz CEC purely as office and meeting space, and not as
a rich opportunity for expanded campus and community collaboration, are not a good fit.
Successful applicants and residents of the Weitz CEC are those that share the Weitz CEC’s
unique vision and are already committed to the potential it offers their organization.
Additional Information and Follow-up:
Occupancy agreements, Memoranda of Understanding and/or contracts will be developed in
consultation with the Weitz CEC program administrator and approved by appropriate
representatives of the partner organization and UNO administration. External organizations
selected for the Weitz CEC will be asked to provide a Certificate of Insurance with limits of
$1,000,000 per occurrence and $3,000,000 aggregated naming the Board of Regents of the
University of Nebraska as an additional insured. Organizations selected for the Weitz CEC will
meet with building staff to finalize their space, furniture, office layout, and resource needs.
Please Note: As of August 2015, there are no remaining parking stalls in the Weitz CEC
garage space. UNO will no longer be able to guarantee parking space for new Weitz
CEC affiliates in the Weitz CEC garage as part of the rental agreements. However, ample
parking will be available for Weitz CEC affiliates in UNO’s east and
west parking structures. CEC residents will be able to sign up for a waiting list for
openings in the CEC garage.
For additional information, contact:
Sara Woods, Executive Assistant to the Senior Vice Chancellor for Community Engagement
and Director
University of Nebraska at Omaha
6001 Dodge Street, Weitz CEC 115
Omaha, NE 68182
(402)554-3914
swoods@unomaha.edu
Heike Langdon
Manager of Possibilities
University of Nebraska at Omaha
6001 Dodge Street, Weitz CEC 115
Omaha, NE 68182
halangdon@unomaha.edu
(402) 554-2565
4