Thanks to funds from a housing grant one local family will be enjoying Christmas in a brand new home this year.

The public was invited to a special ribbon-cutting event on Thursday, Dec. 14, in Callaway for a new home made possible by the Nebraska Affordable Housing Fund. The Village of Callaway, Custer Economic Development Corporation, and the Nebraska Department of Economic Development hosted the ribbon cutting.

Custer Economic Development Corporation, with the assistance of the Central Nebraska Economic Development District, received a $500,000 grant from the Nebraska Affordable Housing Trust Fund to construct three single-family homes for income-qualified individuals and families. Two of those homes have already been built and sold in Broken Bow, and CEDC was excited to cut the ribbon on the third home recently completed in Callaway.

In December of 2022, a groundbreaking ceremony was held to begin building this beautiful home. Just over a year later Kennedy Construction & Woodworking has completed the beautiful new construction home and it is ready to be lived in.

The ribbon-cutting event included comments from several dignitaries and individuals involved with the project, beginning with Callaway Village Board Chairman Mark Kimball. “Bryson Kennedy was the contractor on this project and I have walked around and looked at his work, and it is excellent,” Kimball remarked. “There are several others in this room who took a lead role in making this happen, and on behalf of the town of Callaway I just want to say thank you.”

Representatives of three of Nebraska’s representatives in Washington, D.C. were also on hand to share thoughts from their respective dignitaries. They included Josh Jelden, from the office of U.S. Senator

Deb Fischer, Sarah Mills from the office of U.S. Senator Pete Ricketts, and Jarad Reimers from the office of U.S. Congressman Adrian Smith.

KC Belitz of the Nebraska Department of Economic Development shared what a pleasure it was to be part of the accomplishment that Callaway is enjoying. “As we travel all around this great state, and I have done so for several years now in a couple of different roles, housing and childcare are the two universals, right?

To see you making progress with this outstanding addition to your housing stock is exciting,” said Belitz. “I know you have made some progress on the childcare side too. You are doing the things in Custer County that need to be done. Just think about the story of the family that is going to live in this house, a young family with kids, and it doesn’t get any better than that. You should be extraordinarily proud of what you’ve done.”

CEDC Director Scotti Ross also thanked Kennedy for his wonderful work on the home, and shared that the house has already been sold and the closing is happening today (Dec. 21). “The family is so excited to move in,” she said. “There are a lot of collective small businesses and investors in this community that did put money together for a match to apply for this grant. And I am so happy to have wrapped up this third house build to prove that when grant funds come our way they are put to really great use.”

Callaway Chamber of Commerce President Ken Pitkin said he was speaking “to represent the locals”. He also commended Kennedy for his work and for having a local contractor to keep the funds in the area.

The final speaker of the day was Judy Petersen of the Central Nebraska Economic Development District.

“Development of housing is not a one-size-fits-all situation. Our rural communities have to be extremely creative and willing to take a chance when developers refuse to come to our towns,” said Petersen. She said they often find that developers avoid rural areas because the profit margin is less than in urban areas.

“I believe we have proven that central Nebraska is worthy of future investment into the development and improvement of housing,” said Petersen. “I want to congratulate the Village of Callaway.”

Above: Josh Jelden, Central Nebraska Constituent Services & Outreach Director for U.S.

Senator Deb Fischer, visits with Callaway Village Board Vice President Lawrence Paulsen during the ribbon cutting event last Friday.

Left: Callaway community members and board representatives took an opportunity to tour the new Callaway home Friday, and to catch up with one another.

(Courier photos by Ellen Mortensen)