Dear John,

This has been a busy week for me in the District during this work period and I want to share some highlights with you!

I started the week by attending the Unity Service in Honor of Dr. Martin Luther King on Sunday at Salem Baptist Church. On MLK Day, I heard a great message at the Unity Luncheon from Johnny "The Jet" Rodgers about how every day is game-day. Thanks to Pastor Sanders and the entire team at IMA for the powerful and impactful events they organized. This is the 35th year for both events.

After the lunch, we served alongside community leaders at the Sienna Francis House and attended the City of Omaha's Second Annual High School Martin Luther King Jr. “Living the Dream” Original Social Justice Music, Poetry and Dance Competition. 

This week, we announced the winners of the 2019 Congressional App Challenge; an initiative of the U.S. House of Representatives, where Members of Congress host contests in their districts for middle school and high school students, encouraging them to learn to code and inspiring them to pursue careers in computer science. 

First place went to Creighton Prep. Their team developed a message board where students and teachers can aid students in understanding topics discussed in class or on homework. Congrats to Cian Weekly, Kevin Prososki and Ben Hall for their work!

The runners-up were from R.M. Marrs Middle School. Edgar Cid Lutin, Giuseppe Torres and Jonathan Leon developed an app that allows individuals to earn some money while picking up trash, by simply scanning a code on the approved trash receptacle. Check out these Bytes Of Bacon videos of my visits:

Creighton Prep           R.M. Marrs Middle School

I visited Jinping Liu's U.S. Census booth in South Omaha. Participating in the 2020 U.S. Census will help our government decide how federal funding aids the community's infrastructure, emergency management, public education and veteran services. Every race, religion, and culture is counted. To learn more about the 2020 U.S. Census visit https://2020census.gov/

I also attended the 40th Annual Santo Niño Omaha Sinulog Fiesta celebrating 40 Years of Faith and Devotion with our Filipino community in Nebraska. Thanks to Santo Niño Omaha for their invite and to the Omaha Firefighters Hall for hosting.

Finally, I will be hosting my first town hall of 2020 on Saturday, February 1 at 9:00 a.m. It will be held in the Board Room of the Omaha Public School’s TAC Building, located at 3215 Cuming Street. I hope to see you there!