With 25 years of experience in tech, Young hopes to bring equity and access to his community and the state of Nebraska
Michael Young grew up riding the bus to downtown Omaha to the W. Dale Clark Public Library. He volunteered there as a young teen back in the 1990s and spent his days helping visitors use PCs. Very quickly, the library offered him a job to help folks navigate the new technology. For the past 25 years, Young has been an active community builder leveraging the use of technology to help people.
“The best thing about technology is that it continuously expands because there are always problems to be solved,” said Young.
Young started his college education at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln with a football scholarship. Soon after, he injured his knee and decided to come back to Omaha to attend Metro Community College and then University of Nebraska-Omaha. While he did not graduate, it did not stop him from achieving a technical occupation.
He started to acquire certifications and eventually became a certified Network Engineer. Opportunities continued to present themselves to him throughout his early career. He worked with Deb Bass, who started Bass & Associates and later ran the Nebraska Health Information Exchange. His charisma helped him with both client-facing roles as well as within the company infrastructure.
“I am good at building solutions and understanding what people need so I became the bridge between tech and business,” Young said.
Once Bass & Associates transitioned to a different partner, Young’s role changed. He realized that he was essentially running his own department and could do that independently. In 2008, he started q(3) systems, a Midwest based Information Technology consulting company, providing managed services in network/tech support, graphic & web design, email and website hosting, and cloud computing. His focus was on the three phases of tech: design, implementation, and support.
The recession started quickly after q(3) solutions opened, but Young was determined to make his new company work. He decided to not apply for capital or a line of credit. His first office was in the Old Mill. He quickly went from one office in a four office suite to using the full suite.
In 2017, Young switched up his entrepreneurial path and shifted q(3) systems to Technology Consulting Solutions, located at the Village Empowerment Center in North Omaha. He chose this location for the community that came with it. Businesses like Step-Up Omaha to Omaha 360, the Village Empowerment Center offered a home for education, employment, entrepreneurship, and health services. Innovation and creation is on the minds of those businesses working together to help make this educational space to develop the workforce in North Omaha. Young works behind the scenes at the Village Empowerment Center as well through support on their website and infrastructure. Now, Technology Consulting Solutions offers microbranding, social media, WordPress support while still offering technology consulting.
“Entrepreneurship is really important to me as it allows people to not only have a side hustle to build a brick and mortar but that employs and thrives in our state. I like being the spark behind their ah-ha moment of ‘I can do this,” said Young.
Right now, they are working with Step Up, addressing youth and gang violence by offering job training and work experience to youth and young adults. Children ages 14-15 go through training to learn tech skills, how to cook, and how to be an entrepreneur. Once they turn 16, they get to go to job sites and use their skills to get paid. Young teaches technology training through their programs.
“It’s really cool to see the community organizations work together. Here, it’s about being efficient with the same dollar instead of fighting over the same dollar,” said Young.
Young has also served on many boards in the Omaha area. He currently serves as the vice chair of Code Black, a non-profit that offers Black and Brown communities an entry point into technology. Through Code Black, Young has partnered to build a mentorship and training mechanism here in Nebraska and the Midwest.
“As a BIPOC who started my technology career at the age of 15 for the City of Omaha, I didn’t understand what it is like to step into a place where you not only don’t feel welcome, but people don’t look like you. I will always continue to support a diverse workforce environment especially around my love for the technology industry,” said Young.
After 25 years, the technology perspective isn’t as it used to be for Young. His passion started to shift and his focus became public policy and being a dad. In 2015, he decided to use his skills to run for MCC’s board of directors.
Candidates used to record commercials live, burn them to a disc, and then mail it across the state. Before the phenomenon that is YouTube came around, Young worked to help bring candidates into the era of technology. He helped them build a cloud server, FTP server, where candidates could upload videos and share them that way. Later on, Jim Suttle, former Mayor of Omaha, brought Young onto his team where he was appointed to be on the transit authority.
“I was appointed to the transit authority because they had a member come off and there was no person of color, and I was passionate. The majority of the membership was minorities. I rode the number 2, the bus was freedom,” said Young.
During Covid, this role became a challenge for him as he takes everything to heart. The challenge presented itself to him by the way it impacted public policy. This policy would have impacted him as a child and now as an adult, he had a chance to level up his own life and hopefully others.
“Growing up, I experienced man-made issues – transportation, food, housing. I wish some of these things helped me and my family, who knows how things would have turned out?… And so for me, making sure that there was someone with learned experiences at the table making those decisions was really important – what it’s like to not have dinner, what it’s like to not have utilities or heat,” said Young.
Young decided he needed a break from policy to put his focus back on his company and his family. He never thought he’d run again. That is, until he saw the redistricting happening in Nebraska and the candidates that were running for governor. With over 25 years in technology and management consulting experience, Young looks to bring his learned experience to the legislature.
“We needed balance. I launched the deadline day, went live on facebook, got Carol Blood, Tony Vargas, Terrel McKinney, and a few others behind me to announce that I planned to run for Legislature,” said Young.
Young is running for Nebraska’s Legislative District 18 against Christy Armendariz. One of Young’s five focuses is technology investments. He believes this tech perspective is two-fold. For people who live in rural communities, access to broadband is a challenge. According to Nebraska’s Rural Broadband Task Force, approximately 12% of Nebraskans or 215,000 individuals do not have a broadband subscription at home.
Young plans to bridge the urban and rural divide in Nebraska by ensuring that all Nebraskans have access to the internet. Young wants to work side-by-side with subject matter experts to understand the impact that technology has in state operations, businesses, as well as education. He believes that in order for Nebraska to attract and retain talent across the state, innovation is necessary to eliminate barriers in technology.
“You can build a bike trail and lights and housing, but if it’s going to be gentrified, what does it really impact? In my old neighborhood, Midtown Crossing, there’s folks in that neighborhood who can’t even afford to go to the restaurants. It’s important to be innovative, how can the state itself be more innovative? How can data be used to tell a story and I take my learned experience to help bridge the gap of public policy and innovation,” said Young.
