PATTI KNOBBE (left), director of the Norfolk Area Recruiters, has coffee at the Downtown Coffee Co. with Jessi and Brandon Doke, a couple who were recently recruited back to Norfolk. After surpassing the original goals set forth by the group, the recruiters have established an additional set of goals for the future.

Norfolk Daily News

Friday – April 4, 2008

Contrary to what you might have been led to believe — you can come home again.

As the executive director of the Norfolk Area Recruiters, Patti Knobbe has seen the proof.

When the Norfolk Area Recruiters began three years ago with a small group of five volunteers, the goals were modest.

“The first year they started, they wanted to be able to recruit a family a year back,” Knobbe said.

The group formed in 2005 as an effort to get former residents who had moved away interested in coming back to Norfolk. That effort has expanded to include other towns in Northeast Nebraska, including Battle Creek, Stanton, Madison, Tilden, West Point and Pierce.

The goals set forth by the group, as well as the growth of the group itself, have surpassed the original expectations.
So far, more than 30 families have returned to Norfolk because of recruiting efforts made by the group. The group itself has grown from five individuals to more than 128 volunteer members. It’s also now sponsored by 27 corporate investors, including the city of Norfolk and the Elkhorn Valley Economic Development Council, Knobbe said.

Gov. Dave Heineman has lauded the group’s efforts to draw former residents back to the area, and a recent book “Entrepreneurship in Nebraska” called the recruiters the model to follow for the vitality of economic growth in Nebraska.

Knobbe, who was hired as director last November, said she’s encouraged by what she has experienced as part of the organization.

“I’m working with seven (people) right now that look very, very promising,” Knobbe said. “It looks like we could easily have 10 new families here in just an eight-month period of time.”

The people moving back range in professions from skilled laborers to doctors, and they are coming from as far away as Tennessee, she said. One person in Ireland is even looking to locate in Norfolk thanks to the efforts of the recruiters, Knobbe added.

“We would love to see people who are not from here move here, but our main focus is our alumni,” Knobbe said.

The recruiters have also helped with retention, she said. A couple of the individuals who moved back to Norfolk discovered they weren’t a good fit for the job for which they were initially hired, and the recruiters helped find a more appropriate position for them, Knobbe said.

One of the new goals for the group this year is to increase the number of alumni from Norfolk and the surrounding area to which it sends mail, Knobbe said. The group is now focusing on getting lists of alumni from surrounding schools instead of just the schools located in Norfolk, she said.

The Peter Kiewit Institute is also helping the recruiters establish a database that will expedite matching jobs that become available in the area to individuals who have expressed interest in returning to Norfolk, Knobbe said.

When a Norfolk business calls in search of workers with specific skills, the database will offer quick access to people who are interested in moving back to the area with those skills, Knobbe said.

In addition, Knobbe said the recruiters have been active in reaching out to high school seniors to make sure they realize their city wants them to return if they choose to attend college someplace other than Norfolk.

Knobbe said she has heard of students being told that when they graduate they should get as far away as they can to pursue their goals.

“We’re trying to reverse the damage that has been done with that,” Knobbe said. “Let that child form his or her own opinion.”

Letting students know there are businesses in town that are interested in their talents has been a key point Knobbe said she has stressed with seniors.

“I’ve let them know there are opportunities available in the community,” Knobbe said. “You can come home again.”