About the Come Home Award Program
As communities, businesses, and nonprofits work to attract and retain our workforce and populations, new innovative approaches are needed to give cities, towns, and counties that have lost population an edge to compete with the world. Workforce and talent attraction incentives allow for communities to become places that experience a Brain Gain thus combating the historic population loss for many communities and states.
U.S. Senate bill S. 676 is a tremendous opportunity that would create public-private-philanthropic partnerships to give our communities an advantage in attracting and retaining much-needed talent. S. 676, titled the Workforce Development Through Post-Graduation Scholarships Act of 2019, will:
- Update the IRS policies making it possible for foundations to award post-graduation scholarship grants to individuals who locate into communities experiencing population decline;
- Provide an added incentive to attract talent, especially in particular workforce needs;
- Make it possible for foundations in other states to create programs modeled after the successful Community Foundation of St. Clair’s Come Home Awards in Michigan; and
- Spark new collaborations that advance population growth and economic development.
Come Home Award Resources
Resources include templates, fact sheets, manuals, letters, and sample media and communications documents.
View All Come Home Award Resources
Come Home Awards at Community Foundations
Community Foundation of St. Clair County, Michigan
- The Wall Street Journal: How Bad Is the Labor Shortage? Cities Will Pay You to Move There
- Washington Post: These Places Will Pay U.S. Workers Thousands of Dollars to Move There
- Bridge: Yes, You Can Pay Rural Michigan College Grads to Come Home
- LinkedIn: To Lure Workers, Small Cities Try a New Approach: Paying People to Move In
- CBS News: Towns Offer Incentives to Lure Young Workers
Golden Belt Community Foundation, Kansas
Learn More
To learn more about how your philanthropy-serving organization can get involved, join an upcoming call on this topic or reach out to Paul Daugherty at Philanthropy West Virginia (paul@philanthropywv.org) or Olivia Lewis at the Council of Michigan Foundations (olewis@michiganfoundations.org).