UNL Serviceship Assists Flood Recovery in Brownville

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September is National Preparedness Month. Each year National Preparedness Month is recognized to promote family and community disaster and emergency planning. This year’s campaign is called “Disasters Don’t Wait. Make Your Plan Today“.

This September we are 18 months out from the initial floods that devastated hundreds of Midwest communities in 2019. In Nebraska alone, 75 percent of the counties issued emergency declarations last year due to the flooding. The state’s grand total for losses to the floods added up to $1.3 billion, a staggering amount that cannot be simply be recouped through FEMA funding.

Brownville’s Predicament

Even though we are now over a year removed from the event, many communities are still striving to recover. Brownville Nebraska is one of those communities. Situated roughly an hour south of Omaha, the little town of Brownville is nestled up against the Missouri River. The same Missouri River that gave this burb its tourism opportunities also was the source of catastrophic flooding last year.

Although many of the town’s buildings survived the rush of water that inundated the community, streets and other infrastructure suffered heavily. Also hit hard was Riverside Park. Brownville Riverside Park and Landing holds the Captain Meriweather Lewis Dredge Museum, a boat ramp, camping, trail connections, and the Belle of Brownville, a paddle boat that cruises up and down the river.

Captain Meriwether Lewis Dredge

Captain Meriwether Lewis Dredge Museum

For this town of 126 the tourism activities provided by the Brownsville Riverside Park was a notable economic driver. Without significant improvement in the damaged infrastructure and the recovery of the park, the town’s future was in doubt.

UNL Lending a Helping Hand

Looking for help, community leaders reached out to the University of Nebraska Extension for assistance. The Extension, along its university partners stepped in to lend a helping hand during the spring semester of 2020.

Brownville Shops

There are many shoppes and museums in Brownville to visit

The Extension brought in Master of Community and Regional Planning student Anna Headlee and Master of Applied Science student Roland Schwichtenberg through serviceship positions. As defined by the Rural Futures Institute, a serviceship is “A hybrid between service learning and traditional internships.” Through a serviceship, a college student is able to gain experience, a wage, and the opportunity for college credit, while helping communities in need.

The two students facilitated community meetings with Brownville residents, local officials and business owners. After gathering input the students were able to put together a needs assessment and commence work on helping Brownville residents recover. Based on the input recieved, the students realized that the community needed additional connections to agencies and resources that can help the rebuilding effort. They reached out to additional organizations to inquire on both technical and financial assistance.

The serviceship program has been designed to assist communities in the flood recovery planning process, with the goal of mitigating further damage. At the end of each serviceship project a report of their findings and recommendations is provided to the community. The report details future actions and goals, funding opportunities, and potential partners in the recovery process.

Brownville Tourist Sign

Map of Brownville Attractions

“These community based, serviceship projects give our students real-world leadership experience, coordinating efforts, building collaborations and galvanizing people,” said College of Architecture’s CRP Professor Zhenghong Tang. “These are all skills that prepare our students to be formative leaders as they plan tomorrow’s communities.”

Start the Ball Rolling on Serviceship

Serviceships have helped a number of communities in Nebraska dating back to 2013. UNL’s program is available to all communities in Nebraska and to communities in other states at a higher cost. More information about requesting a serviceship program is available through the link below:

UNL Serviceships

However, each state should have their own program. If your state doesn’t have serviceship program setup, or something similar, start the ball rolling now. Serviceship programs don’t magically appear when communities are confronted with disaster. Gather representatives from other communities and others with political willpower to bring your local university to the table and start something similar.