The Community Foundation for St. Clair County launched a new talent attraction initiative to grow the county’s population while also supporting smaller, local businesses by providing $5,000 financial incentives to recruit individual employees.

“We’ve all seen the economic impact recruiting new talent to the area can have with programs like the Come Home Award,” Donna Kuhr, chair of the foundation’s Talent Attraction Committee. “Now we want to combine our efforts with the existing recruitment networks companies use while also giving their work a boost.”

As CMF reported, the community foundation, with thought partnership from surrounding community foundations, launched the Come Home Award post-graduation scholarship program in 2016. The award focused on promoting talent retention in the community by providing student loan forgiveness to college students who move back to St. Clair County after graduation.

According to a press release, the foundation’s talent attraction committee decided to pause the Come Home program and instead of an individual applying, a business with 50 or fewer employees can now submit an application after they have identified a potential employee who does not currently live in the county. If approved, the organization can then offer the $5,000 to the candidate as a sign-on bonus or for things like moving expenses if they agree to relocate to St. Clair County.

“This initiative allows us to expand our talent attraction program,” Kuhr said. “With the Come Home Award, we were only able to attract individuals with student debt to live and work here. Now, even though we have a preference for employees with some type of post-secondary education or training, a degree and debt isn’t a requirement.” 

The initiative will run through the Community Renaissance Fund, the community foundation’s supporting organization for community development initiatives.

Want more?

Read the full press release.

Learn more about the foundation’s talent attraction work.

CMF continues to advocate for the Workforce Development Through Post-Graduation Scholarships Act of 2021, which would expand post-graduation scholarship grant programs by mandating that scholarship recipients are not required to pay income taxes on awarded funding. The bill is based on the Come Home Award created by the Community Foundation of St. Clair County. Learn more about CMF’s continued advocacy in support of post-graduation scholarships.