The Partnership Has A New President!

Earlier this week, Deb Denbeck began her new position as president of The Partnership For Our Kids.

Denbeck, who comes to the Partnership from Creighton University, is taking over for Julie Hefflinger, who is retiring from the Partnership this week, after 14 years of service.

Denbeck is honored to have been selected for this position. "I feel very blessed and fortunate to be following in the footprints of someone I have great respect for," says Denbeck. "Julie has done an amazing job of building a strong team and a program that is so needed in the Omaha area." She feels that the Partnership's work to continue providing quality role models and mentors is paramount to helping more Omaha students succeed.

Inspiring commitment to achieving greatness among young people is something that Denbeck knows a lot about, having devoted 21 years of her life to coaching collegiate volleyball. Denbeck has also served as a volunteer mentor for the Partnership’s group mentoring program.

In addition to her coaching and mentoring experience, Denbeck has an extensive background in education as well as fundraising and development. She is very passionate about the power of an education and she says the thing she is most looking forward to about working at the Partnership is having an opportunity to help more young people succeed. "We need to be strong advocates for today's youth--they are our future," she says.

To learn more about Deb, check out our team page

Announcing A New PFOK Addition

Meet the newest member of the PFOK team, Jennifer Arnold.

Jennifer will be serving as the Partnership’s administrative assistant. She will be responsible for providing assistance to the Partnership’s executive team, helping with event and meeting planning logistics, assisting with the new hire process, ordering office supplies, and ensuring that the office runs as smoothly as possible.

Jen is happily married and has two beautiful boys, Joshua and Cole. She and her family house what she refers to as “a small petting zoo,” consisting of 3 dogs, a snake, lizard and fish and various other critters that her boys bring home.

In her spare time, Jen enjoys summer bike rides and camping on the weekends, decorative painting, reading and evening walks.

To learn more about Jen, view her profile on our website “Teams” page

Order in the court!

This week Partnership middle school students visited the Douglas County Courthouse to learn more about the justice system. “Students enjoyed getting to explore the court room and were excited to sit in the jury box and the witness stand,” says Program Specialist, Ramey McNamara.

In addition to exploring the courtroom, students also heard the history of the courthouse and had an opportunity to chat with Judge Larry Barrett. Belvedere sixth grader, Maurice was shocked to find out how many cases appear before the judge on a daily basis. “Judge Barrett told us that there are usually 20 people that come through, and that’s just in the morning,” says Maurice. Maurice added that he was also surprised to learn how much he discovered about the courts from the tour. “Students definitely understood the court system better when we left,” says McNamara. “They walked away with a lot of great knowledge.

To learn more about Partnership For Our Kids summer outings, visit our events page.