Emerging Nonprofit Leader Award
About the Program
The purpose of ynpnGO’s Emerging Nonprofit Leader award is to recognize a current ynpnGO member who has a strong sense of vision, has passion and commitment, and inspires passion and commitment in others. Emerging nonprofit leaders are early or mid-career nonprofit professionals. The awardee must work for a nonprofit or public sector organization and be a member of ynpnGO to be considered.
Meet the 2023 Honoree
2023 Emerging Nonprofit Leader Award Honoree: Manger Baw
Born and raised on the border of Thailand and Myanmar, Manger is an indigenous Karen (Knyaw), former refugee and an Education advocate. She is a visionary storyteller who is curiously seeking to improve herself and others.
In 2020, Manger founded the Karen Educational Resources, a social media-based youth empowerment and educational advising program. KER mission is to provide educational-based information and promote the importance of all types of education to the Karen audience.
Fast forward to 2023, Manger launched the Kaybwa Leadership and Ambassador Program, designed to empower the youth to embrace the roles of storytellers and ambassadors by actively engaging in education and civic engagement. Manger holds both a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree from the University of Nebraska Omaha. Currently, she serves as a scholarship advisor for the Thompson Learning Community at UNO, where she takes joy in contributing to the community that holds a special place in her heart.
Past Honorees
Meet the 2022 Honoree
2022 Emerging Nonprofit Leader Award Honoree: David Baker
David has been a part of the TeamMates National Office Staff since December of 2021. His job is to form and sustain relationships between TeamMates and its community partners, recruit new Mentors for the organization, and consult Chapters on recruitment strategy and implementation.
Prior to his tenure at TeamMates, David worked as a high school Color Guard Director for eight years, ending his career at Bellevue West HS after five of those years. While teaching, he focused on social-emotional intelligence and growth within his student population. He has taught multiple groups across the country including in: Nebraska, Missouri, Tennessee, Arkansas, Arizona, North Carolina, and Illinois. Currently, he consults on programming design for a handful of groups and teaches color guard clinics on an as-needed basis.
David is incredibly passionate about equity and inclusion amongst all groups of people that he works with. He believes in the power of listening and curiosity, regularly asking people about themselves and their life story. If he had to pick a useless superpower it would be to change white milk to chocolate milk and the achievement he is most proud of is potty-training his Golden Retriever puppy, Goose, in just over one week.
Meet the 2020 Honorees
2020 Emerging Nonprofit Leader Award Honoree: Katherine MacHolmes
Katherine MacHolmes is a native North Omahan, born and raised. A graduate of Benson High School, a community theatre artist, writer and lifelong activist and advocate, Katherine also works as an anti-oppression and antiracism educator and trainer. Incredibly passionate about liberation, community healing and art, she finds that collective community processes are the closest form of liberation that we can come to in imperfect systems.
2020 Emerging Nonprofit Leader Award Honoree: Brittany Parker
Brittany Parker is an Omaha native, known as an Elite Boxer ranked #2 on Team USA. She is a five times National Champ. In winter 2019, she competed in the Olympic Trials and placed 2nd.
Brittany Parker transferred her skills from the corporate world to non-profit to serve others in 2018. Brittany started as a Shift Advocate but soon worked her way to an Self Sufficiency Case Manager at the Women’s Center for Advancement. She quickly became a leader in her department. As a case manager she provide assistance and support to clients working towards self-sufficiency, facilitating and monitoring their progress using tools provided; to support clients in identifying and developing employment and financial goals; to participate in outreach activities with individuals and groups; to assist potential participants overcome barriers as they move towards self-sufficiency program participation; and to do related work as required. Recently, she was promoted to the Housing Project Manager.
Brittany is also the CEO and co-founder of Brittany’s Balance. Brittany’s Balance is creating wellness programming designed specifically for black women.
Brittany is currently completing her AA in Business Management at Metro Community College.
2020 Emerging Nonprofit Leader Award Honoree: Caitlin Little
Caitlin Little is a performance artist, arts advocate, and karaoke star. They are passionate about the essential function art plays in sustaining places economically and culturally and has worked to advocate for arts and culture districts in Nebraska and other incentives to support them.
Caitlin is a co-founder of Petshop Gallery and currently serves as Development Director for BFF Omaha, an arts non-profit that builds community through arts engagement. Over the last 8 years, they have provided free arts programming to the Omaha area and created hundreds of economic opportunities for working artists.
Along with their work in the non-profit sector Little values community engagement and gives their time to amazing organizations that support femme futures such as Omaha Girls Rock and the national TTT Society.
Caitlin lives in an adorable flat with her two cat children, Lewis and Lucy.
Meet the 2019 Honorees
2019 Emerging Nonprofit Leader Award Honoree: Itzel Lopez
Recent graduate of the Nonprofit Leadership Institute, 40 Under 40 recipient, Currently serves on Mayor Stothert’s Millenial Advisory Committee and is participating in Leadership Omaha.
Itzel Lopez is the VP of Operations & Corporate Communications at the AIM Institute, Omaha’s only non-profit dedicated to local tech talent education and career development. Founder of Maria Bonita Mexican Cuisine, Itzel has taken traditional Mexican cuisine to another level, operating food trucks. Those who know Itzel personally, say she’s an active member of the Hispanic community and has played a key role in the growth of the annual Cinco de Mayo Omaha festivities. Born and raised in Mexico, Itzel and her family moved to Omaha when she was 12 years old.
2019 Emerging Nonprofit Leader Award Honoree: Teresa Riesberg
Teresa serves as the Marketing & External Affairs Manager for MENTOR Nebraska, a nonprofit that fuels the quality and quantity of mentoring relationships throughout Nebraska. In her role, Teresa is focused on creating a culture of mentoring through community collaboration. She leads a city-wide mentor recruitment campaign, engages organizations and businesses in the mentoring movement, and brings public awareness to the value of mentoring young people. In addition, Teresa leads trainings on deepening relationships, mentoring best practices, screening volunteers, and trauma-informed care. She also supports advocacy efforts, external affairs, fundraising, and organizational operations.
Outside of work, Teresa is a member of the Junior League of Omaha, Young Nonprofit Professionals Greater Omaha, and the Friends of Nebraska Children Board of Directors.
Teresa earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism & mass communication and kinesiology & health from Iowa State University. As part of her education, she interned for Muscular Dystrophy Association, HCI Care Services, and Iowa State’s Community Partnership for Health. Teresa is a proud graduate of Portland University’s Summer Institute on Youth Mentoring.
2019 Emerging Nonprofit Leader Award Honoree: Katie Cunningham
Katie Cunningham is a nonprofit professional driven to ensure educational equity and access to higher education in Omaha. Since 2013, Katie has worked for College Possible, a college access and success organization that supports talented, capable students from low-income backgrounds to and through college graduation. As Program Director, Katie leads both the high school and college programs serving nearly 750 high school and 1,500 college students this year.
A graduate of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (B.A.) and the University of Missouri-St. Louis (M.Ed.), Katie taught 3rd in 4th grade in St. Louis Public Schools with Teach For America and credits her time with AmeriCorps as a life changing experience.
Katie is an active member of the Junior League of Omaha, a member of the Omaha Chamber of Commerce YP Council, a 2019 New Leader’s Council fellow, and enjoys distance running. Katie and her husband Chris welcomed their first child, Julian, this May.
Meet the 2018 Honoree
2018 Emerging Nonprofit Leader Award Honoree: Rebecca Armstrong Langle
Born and raised in Omaha, Rebecca Armstrong Langle has committed herself to improving the community where she lives, works and plays. Right out of college, Rebecca served as a staff assistant to Sen. Nelson for two years where she worked on issues that affect all people, from large nonprofit organizations to individuals navigating the federal government. This experience gave her passion to help others.After getting her undergraduate degree in political science, Rebecca went on to get her master’s degree in public administration at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. Upon Sen. Nelson’s retirement in 2012, Rebecca began working for local nonprofits. She has focused on fundraising and marketing in her nonprofit roles. Currently, Rebecca is the Vice President of Development at Nebraska Children and Families Foundation.
Outside of work, Rebecca is active with the League of Women Voters and sits on the alumni advisory board for UNO’s MPA program. Rebecca is a proud alumni of the New Leaders Council, and also served on their board as communications chair.
Rebecca is passionate about education and equality issues. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her husband, Ryan, and dog, Delilah.