Vanessa Ward

for
Governor
BIOGRAPHY

Vanessa Loftin Ward was born March 24, 1953, which began her lifelong love affair with

her North Omaha neighborhood, the State of Nebraska and her husband. She attended old Tech

High and graduated in 1971. Not long after, she married her high school sweetheart, Keith Ward

on September 29, 1973. And, together they raised four beautiful children – Keith Jr., Torrey,

Juana and Va’Chona. They all continue to live near Mom.

That certainly sounds like the beginning of a very nice story, and for a candidate for

governor, one might expect it to go on – while raising her family, she graduated with honors

from UNO, completed graduate school at UNL and went on to found one of the most vibrant

companies in Omaha operated by a woman of color. Unfortunately, in spite of being a bright and

talented student, those opportunities never presented themselves to an African American woman

struggling to survive in North Omaha. Instead, Vanessa got her street named after her by going

to peace in a conflict that pitted her against some of the worst poverty and gang violence in the

United States at the time. People died, a lot of people died and still she persevered.

It is difficult for most Nebraskans, whether living in the rural expanses of the state or

even a few blocks away in Dundee, to understand what it was like – what it is still like. Martin

Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X and Bobby Kennedy all chose North Omaha to speak about civil

rights during Vanessa’s childhood. The 4CL Ministers, the BANTUs, the Black Panthers and the

Freedom Schools all rose from her neighborhood to fight injustice. Homes burned, riots engulfed

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the business district, lives were lost and violence was perpetrated on neighbors. Throughout it all

Vanessa bore witness.

As Vanessa raised her family, drug trafficking, intimidation, prostitution and murder

were a way of life – a right on the doorstep kind of reality. And, in the midst of this

unimaginable turmoil, Vanessa’s partner and love of her life, lost his legs to diabetes – owing

mostly to a lack of health coverage. Without Keith’s job, they went from poor to fight for

survival.

“I had to keep going,” said Vanessa. “It was too important. I had to keep Keith going. I

had to keep my work going. He was literally dying before my eyes, and he was afraid for my life.

Can you imagine? He was worried about me.”

What Vanessa did next is the stuff of legend. She talked to armed gang members. She

talked to business and community leaders, and she talked to church leaders all over the state. She

brought everyone together for an old fashion “Block Party.” She says in her book, Somebody Do

Something, “I realized that hatred cannot be my motivator. If hatred is the only reason I want

transformation, it will never succeed.”

She also put into action some basic tenets. First among these was truth. “You can’t

accomplish anything without truth,” she said. “Truth builds trust, and you’re nowhere without

it.”

Second, she decided it was counterproductive to find fault or blame. “You can’t choose

sides,” she said. “You have to dive right into this unimaginable depth of deception, orchestrated

by both sides, and find a better way.”

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 Third, she decided that promoting true transformation would require healing from within.

“No one,” she said. “Can come into your community and produce effective change. You have to

accomplish that from within.”

“In those days, North Omaha was a war zone,” said one neighbor who witnessed what

happened. ”Vanessa was armed with nothing more than love and hope. She talked to everyone

and got buy-in. She built trust and changed a prison into a community again. She turned “Death

Valley” into “Hope Alley.”

Keith Ward died on June 21, 2015. He and Vanessa were married three times, even

though they never parted: once as kids in a civil ceremony; once in a traditional church wedding

just for the romance of it all; and once in the “Hope Garden” next to their home not long before

he died.

For her efforts in bringing her community together, in addition to having her street named

after her, she received a long list of honors, including: induction into the African American Hall

of Fame; the American Red Cross “Hero in the Heartland” award; the Dorothy Richardson

Award; NeighborWorks America’s Gold Volunteer of the Year Award presented by President

Obama; two NAACP Awards for community service and the Omaha Key to the City presented

by Mayor Jean Stothert.

Asked why she was running for Governor, Vanessa said, “I’ve spent my life watching

people talk without listening – trying to build something without trust. I see the same thing

happening today in Lincoln and Washington. You can’t solve a problem by just throwing money

at it. You need to tell the truth, and you need to build trust. That’s what I do.”

Campaign Chair, Colleen Brennan, a white woman from the suburbs of Omaha who has

observed and supported Vanessa for years suggests, that if given the chance Vanessa will change

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the world. “There’s a light shining over this woman,” she said. “She tells the truth, the whole

truth. She holds people accountable. She makes good things happen.”

In Vanessa’s book written many years before she ever thought about seeking public

office, she said, “How do I bring my family, neighbors, city, county, and world together to

reduce hate? I must believe for the best.”

And, her block party – still going strong after twenty years…

End

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