Last week, the Chippewa County Economic Development Corporation, along with several other Wisconsin Economic Development Organizations, requested that members of the Wisconsin State Joint Finance Committee allocate funding for a Wisconsin talent recruitment program. Members of the CCEDC Workforce Talent Committee also supported an action that would fund a marketing campaign to raise awareness of the advantages of living and working in Wisconsin. A state marketing campaign that reinforces CCEDC’s marketing message — that Western Wisconsin is a great place to raise a family and a business — helps position our existing industries to obtain the next generation of talent. Aimed at recruiting the best and the brightest, the Joint Finance Committee inserted $3 million toward talent recruitment and retention initiatives during the next two-year fiscal cycle and will be implemented by the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation.

The CCEDC wants to thank the Joint Finance Committee and Chippewa Valley’s state senator and member of the Joint Finance Committee, Kathy Bernier, for prioritizing and supporting a Wisconsin talent attraction strategy that is helping close the gap on the shortage of technology workers in the Chippewa Valley. “Our goal is to stop the exporting of our talent and encourage graduates of Wisconsin universities to contribute to their home state, while at the same time recruiting talent from other states. That’s what this funding is for. It can only be effective by having WEDC, our universities, and our local EDOs such as the CCEDC work together and measure its results. I am a strong supporter of helping local businesses expand and they need talent to do that,” Bernier stressed.