PRESS RELEASE
NCI Works’ to Launch “No Place Like Home” Campaign
Recent studies conducted by North Central Illinois Works (NCI Works), the local workforce board for Bureau, LaSalle, Lee and Putnam Counties, indicate that many young people leave the area for college, jobs or simply to try out life in the Big City. On the other hand, area employers have expressed concerns that they can not find local talent to fill their higher skilled, higher paying jobs. This dilemma, often referred to as “brain drain” or “youth flight”, prompted NCI Works to search for a solution at one of its recent meetings.
About this same time, Mike Neuenkirchen, Streator Area Chamber Executive Director, had just returned from a conference where he heard about a Central Louisiana (Cenla) region’s solution to a similar problem. They, too, had seen many of their energetic young adults leave home, unlikely to return because they felt there were simply no good jobs or opportunities available. Then, in stepped Cenla Advantage Partnership (CAP), a nonprofit organization, whose mission is to improve their local economy and develop a skilled workforce. CAP set its sites on bringing back those who left by appealing to their sense of hometown pride and community belonging through the “Bring ‘em Home Cenla” campaign. The idea behind this effort is to publicize career opportunities in the local area and let moms and dads do the rest.
When Neuenkirchen learned that NCI Works was going to address this challenge at its next Board meeting, he pulled together some information on the Central Louisiana project and forwarded it to the workforce board office in Peru. “It seemed like something we could replicate in our four-county area with just a little tweaking, so I thought ‘Why not throw it out there for discussion’ ”, he offered. The Board liked the idea, and at its May meeting approved its own version of the Central Louisiana campaign: “No Place Like Home”.
“If we have local businesses needing skilled workers, and we have some homegrown workers capable of filling that need, why not do what we can to bring the two together?” suggests Lonnie Doan, NCI Works Chairperson. “Not to mention that stopping or reversing the “brain drain” in our area will only make our communities a lot stronger”, continued Doan.
NCI Works plans to launch “No Place Like Home” within the next few weeks. The Board’s Business Service Team staff will be contacting employers to see if they are interested in posting their higher skilled jobs paying at least $15/hour, or a salaried equivalent, on the NCI Works’ website. “The jobs do not necessarily have to be open positions at the time they’re posted”, said Pam Furlan who helps staff NCI Works. “The idea is to let everyone know that there are some very good jobs in our own backyards, and some very good companies looking to keep or bring back young, talented individuals to fill them.” Like the CAP campaign, Furlan believes that once word gets out about “No Place Like Home”, families and friends will be the best source of publicity and recruitment out there. “In just a few weeks, young people who left our area can check out www.nciworks.org to see if there might be jobs waiting for them back home, just like mom and dad are doing.”