"We want to be a more welcoming community."
I (Rebecca here) bet I hear this phrase or something similar damn near once a week.
Of course you do. We all get how important it is to attract talent and keep them in our communities; we also know that one big facet of that work is being as welcoming as we can be to newcomers.
I've heard and seen a lot of ideas related to this topic since getting into community development work about four years ago.
"Welcome wagons", newcomer packets, a newcomer's link on your website, even events...all designed to help people feel like we want them here and we'll make room for them.
At the end of the day, the best and fastest way to welcome people is to engage people to welcome them.
You can read that again: I'll give you a second.
People welcome people. Full stop.
About a year ago, I was contacted by a woman who was considering a professional-level position in our community and relocating her family of five to Oakes. She had no ties whatsoever to our community and L. was the type of woman who does her research. (Turns out, when people are looking to relocate to a place they've never been and have no meaningful connections to, most people are likely to approach it this way.)
L. was doing her best to navigate the "secret society" underground network of connections and point people and she reached out to me because she found me on the internet.
As I worked with her, including helping coordinate a tour of the town and the school, I realized just how long it had been since I personally experienced being a total newcomer.
She was wondering about things like who are reputable babysitters in town and if we had a kayak club; questions that I had never considered before.
Ultimately, L. and her family chose not to come here. Housing fell apart for them. Because it was such a seller's market, most of our properties were either for sale by owner or just sold without ever having hit the market at all. This is all typical. And I'm not saying it's a problem...at least not for locals.
It is a massive problem for people who aren't local.
In fact, when I was visiting with L. after they'd decided not to come to Oakes, through her tears, she said, "If Oakes continues to operate in a way that only those on the inside can access, no one from the outside will ever get in."
Ugh. What a punch in the gut.
And yet, because I was so personally invested in this family, I knew she was right. She suggested getting "something like a Relocation Specialist" to help people navigate our town.
The idea was sparked. Then, along came TJ.
TJ was a fairly recent graduate of Oakes High School and was looking to move back and wasn't sure what she wanted to do for work.
I invited her to visit with me and dream about what this could look like. To my utter delight, TJ was down. She loved the challenge of this program being a pilot, building something with us, and knowing that the only way the work would continue to get funded was if she delivered results.
In January of 2024, we piloted this program.
The work is broad in scope but touches on both recruitment and retention aspects of helping people relocate to and love living in our community.
Here are a few ways TJ has helped employers and their employees so far:
Reaching out to current employees who commute and asking if they'd like to eliminate the drive
Offering community tours during the interview phase—we tell employers that they can sell the job/company and we'll sell the community
Networking to identify potential people to fill open positions
Being a primary point of contact in the community for new employees, helping them secure/find housing
Connecting people to organizations/committees and the things to do that align with their likes and interests
Finding a tenant for a commercial space
She found a bike for a guy. She has helped countless landlords get their properties up and active on our website. Basically, anything people might need help with, TJ steps in to help.
But because we know that the people benefiting from the support tell a better story than we ever could, here are a few examples from the employers in Oakes...
Jared Roach of Forks Lath & Plaster, a company installing the sheetrock for the construction of a large data-mining facility in a neighboring community, reached out to TJ regarding bringing a crew of about 20 temporary workers to our community. "Our experience with Taylor, the City of Oakes Relocation Specialist, was exceptionally welcoming and pleasant. As a company frequently tasked with projects in rural areas, finding suitable lodging can often pose significant challenges. Upon contacting TJ in our search for accommodations in the Oakes area, she immediately assessed our requirements and swiftly provided us with numerous options. Working with her has transformed what we anticipated to be the most daunting aspect of our project in this rural community into one of the easiest. I highly recommend reaching out to the City of Oakes for anyone seeking housing in the area."
Housing continues to be a huge challenge for people relocating, but having a key contact makes a huge difference.
The other day, I was working in my office at the back of our coworking facility, and I could hear a few people in the hallway. When they got to my door, they peeked in, and I saw two faces I'd never seen before. We started talking and I learned that they'd been shopping at Wild Wolff Boutique on Main and these gals had mentioned to Tayler, the boutique owner, that they loved Oakes and had considered moving here. She said, "I know just where you need to go" and she sent them our way.
These gals met up with TJ and as they were leaving that first time, one of them actually started tearing up because she was so grateful for the help. She said, "We've never gotten help like this before and sometimes all you need is someone to just take the time to give you some help."
Both women have since relocated to Oakes from a neighboring town, and are now employed by local businesses.
One of the organizations interested in supporting this position as a pilot was our school. Anna Sell, the Oakes Public School Superintendent, enthusiastically shared the following: “Taylor has filled a need that we have had for years as an employer in Oakes...helping us to "sell" our community to prospective teachers and to provide support/information to teachers new to our community. She has been instrumental in both of these need areas, and we are thankful that we have been given the opportunity to partner with her and be the recipients of her expertise and support.”
The recruitment of healthcare staff is also a top priority for a lot of rural areas. Alison Peterson, the CHI Oakes Hospital Clinic Manager, shared this about TJ:
“Taylor was an asset to CHI Oakes Hospital when recruiting new providers to CHI Oakes Hospital. She was able to give prospective providers tours of the town, and connect them to housing, daycare, people with like interests, etc. These are things that we honestly do not have time to assist with, but make a huge difference in attracting new employees to our community.”
It's not only companies that win when humans welcome humans; organizations and civic groups do as well.
Dan had relocated to Oakes just before Irrigation Days, our big annual summer festival, and TJ had sent him all the information about the goings-on in town. He replied asking if there was anywhere he could volunteer.
I mean...can we just pause a second right there and acknowledge the challenge everyone seems to face recruiting/finding new people to volunteer?
Dan expressed an interest in helping out Bear Creek Roughriders with their huge rodeo event. Our local Chamber director, Kausha, is also the President of the horse club; she was absolutely delighted to have Dan show up. He was engaging, interested, and helpful.
Helping people find where they can contribute and the activities/events/groups that align with their interests is a key piece of helping welcome a new person.
People won't stay just for jobs, typically, especially in today's marketplace. If they don't develop a sense of belonging, they'll never feel like our community is home and they're less likely to stay.
This kind of customized, one-on-one support isn't easy to achieve on the employer side and rarely do the organized groups in town have this as a part of their mission.
I'm proud of the unique way we funded this pilot.
TJ's work (currently paid at $25k/year) is funded in 2 parts: half from the private sector (businesses that see the value in this work) and the other half from our local economic development organization. Because Growing Small Towns is a nonprofit and we brought her onto our payroll, the economic development half is paid with charitable gaming funds, so no taxpayer dollars contribute towards the position.
I'm sharing all of this information for several reasons:
We want our local residents and businesses to understand the value of the work TJ is doing for the betterment of Oakes.
We believe in the transparency of funding and outcomes. We're not hiding anything and without our sharing, a LOT of misinformation circulates.
We hope to encourage our state agencies to consider how they might support this kind of a position with a match or grant opportunity, not just for us, but for other towns like ours.
We hope to inspire other communities to get creative on how they might fund a position like this. We're working on a comprehensive ambassador program to engage others in the community to support the initiative as well.
This work matters. Activate the humans who love your community to tell the story; no one does it better.
Has your community attempted a unique approach to welcoming newcomers? What's worked? What hasn't? We always want to hear from you.
Sharing the best of what works and the worst of what doesn't is how we show up for each other.
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