As an Omaha Northwest graduate who was attending the University of Nebraska Omaha, John Ewing was hired by the Omaha Police Department while still taking classes. After working for a bit and earning money, he went back to finish his bachelor’s degree and obtained his master’s degree, as well.
“If you can get money in a young person’s pocket, you can keep them here,” Ewing said.
Ewing is Omaha’s 52nd mayor and is the first Black mayor to serve the city. He ran his campaign off simple ideas: an increase in available affordable housing, attracting young families and generations to the city and encouraging those living in the cityto stay and expanding the activities and attractions Omaha has to offer.
The state of Nebraska as a whole is losing about 4,500 college-educated young people a year, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. By losing those people, the state and the city are losing the opportunity to provide high paying jobs, and Omahamisses out on economic growth.
“That’s unacceptable. That’s also unsustainable,” Ewing said.
Six months into his term, Ewing has not taken his foot off the gas pedal. After serving the Omaha Police Department for 25 years, he decided to continue serving the community when he was elected to the Douglas County Treasurer’s office. He held that position for 18 years before taking on Jean Stothert in the mayoral election earlier this year.
Starting his term in an intentional way, he worked with groups such as the UNO Democrats and the Creighton University Democrats to establish a group of young leaders, including high schoolers and young professionals, who want to improve Omaha. Ewing said he was listening to the group of young leaders about what they want out of Omaha for them to stay. Then, “we’re going to do those things,” Ewing said.
School districts around the Omaha metro can help keep students in the state by working with the surrounding universities, Ewing said, whether it be UNO, Creighton, Nebraska Medicine or Metropolitan Community College to create a direct pipeline and have more of a partnership, through internships.
“Even if someone goes to school out of town, they’ll come back for that summer internship, and then we turn those interns into permanent employees,” Ewing said.
“If we kept 2,500 of those [graduates who leave], we would have a better environment for people,” Ewing said.
Keeping those numbers in the city would foster a job network that would aid in underemployment issues and continue the establishment of high paying jobs for young professionals.
Ewing is planning an economic package to create more tools to keep companies and young people in Omaha, allowing companies that are in the city to expand here, not in other cities, and create higher paying jobs.
“We need to create greater opportunities for those people who are underemployed. We have the people who don’t have the skills. Part of our responsibility to compete is the upskill of those people,” Ewing said.
The goal of getting money in the younger generations pockets starts with creating job opportunities, many of which start out with MCC, UNO, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Nebraska Medicine and Nebraska Methodist, which all house programs that enable students to get a certification to start that job process as early as junior year of high school.
This creates a kickstart on a student’s career while promoting the idea of university and a career in Omaha post-graduation.
As a public figure working for the city, he has seen the ways in which Omaha can improve affordable housing, recruit companies, create high paying jobs for Omaha’s citizens and public transportation.
“We haven’t done a good job in those types of things that make Omaha an attractive city,” Ewing said.
He hopes to change that, first with the streetcar.
The overall goal for the streetcar is to “be able to take it and build it into a network,” Ewing said. Comparing Omaha’s streetcar to cities like Kansas City, which has seen success within a small proximity of the streetcar and has increased its routes to many parts of the city.
Kansas City opened its Streetcar in 2016 with a 2.2-mile route, and since added an additional 3.5 miles of routes spanning from River Market North to the University of Missouri- Kansas City campus.
On average, its monthly ridership numbers are around 154,000 passengers in 2024, and has increased to nearly 164,000 in 2025, according to Kansas City Streetcar data.
The Streetcar is one of the many additions to the city Ewing hopes will improve Omaha’s appeal and attractions. The city has completed several major projects, including the Gene Leahy Mall in 2022.
In addition to the Gene Leahy Mall, downtown Omaha has added a new concert venue, a state-of-the-art science center in the Kewit Luminarium and three renovated parks. Spanning 72 acres between The RiverFront and historic Old Market, these new additions are overall increasing the traffic downtown, per the Flatwater Free Press.
“Not many people, very many cities, that could build a park like the Gene Leahy Mall with philanthropic dollars that we have,” Ewing said.
The Crossroads development land that has been in the planning phases for over a decade and sat empty for over five years has officially started the construction for the multimedia, urban housing and shopping development, connecting the need for housing, employment and further entertainment within the city.
“I believe in making good deals that make economic sense for the city,” Ewing said.
