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Family: Wife, Kori; two cats
Job: Abdouch is executive director of the Neighborhood Center, which serves people and neighborhoods in Douglas, Sarpy and Pottawattamie Counties.
Check out the Neighborhood Center at
www.unomaha.edu/ncenter
or call the center at 561-7582
Ron Abdouch loves people.
And it’s his talent for interaction that makes him a perfect fit to lead the Neighborhood Center.
Since March 2005, Abdouch has been executive director of the nonprofit organization that provides support to neighborhoods in Douglas, Sarpy and Pottawattamie Counties.
In that role, he leads a team of five employees who help neighborhood leaders by offering support, education and other resources.
Starting today, he will be writing about neighborhood news, concerns and more for the Community Connection section. Look for his column on the first Saturday of each month.
Abdouch, 58, lives with his wife, Kori, on just more than an acre of land near Blair High Road and State Street. There, the two work in their flower garden and Abdouch uses a tractor to mow the lawn and clear snow. He also likes to golf.
At the Neighborhood Center, he works with leaders across the metro area, encouraging neighborhoods to start associations — or grow them — and offering resources to help them do both.
Often he puts in a 50-hour week — most neighborhood associations meet at night, and he tries to attend meetings — but he doesn’t mind.
“We love what we do, period,” Abdouch said of himself and his staff. “If you like what you’re doing, it’s not a job.”
The Neighborhood Center is administered by the University of Nebraska at Omaha and housed at the university’s Collaborating Center for Public Health and Community Service, 115 S. 49th Ave. The Neighborhood Center was established in 2001.
Born and raised in Omaha, Abdouch graduated from Westside High School in 1969. He attended UNO before taking a job as a pharmacy technician, a position he held for 17 years.
He then went back to school and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in political science.
From there, Abdouch worked at the United Way of the Midlands before spending four years as the director of special programs for then-Omaha Mayor P.J. Morgan. After that, he worked as community relations coordinator for the University of Nebraska Medical Center and in a grant administrator position with the Westside school district.
Abdouch then moved to the Neighborhood Center.
“I’ve always been community-minded,” he said. “My strength is personal relationships. I like to work with people. I like that contact.”
And he believes in the work he does.
As communities grow larger, neighborhoods become more important in people’s lives.
“I think we really have a desire to interact with one another,” he said. “They can find that sense of community in a neighborhood.”
Contact the writer:
444-1535, veronica.stickney@owh.com
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