Lakeland Currents, your public affairs program for North Central Minnesota.

Production funding for Lakeland Currents is made possible by Bemidji Regional Airports, serving the region with daily flights to Minneapolis / St Paul International Airport.

More information available at bemidjiairport.org.

Closed captioning for Lakeland Currents is sponsored by Nisswa Tax Service tax preparation for businesses and individuals, online at nisswatax.com.

Hello again friends, I'm Jason Edens, your host of Lakeland Currents.

Thanks for joining the conversation today and thanks for your ongoing support of Lakeland Public TV.

From boom towns to zoom towns Americans have been relocating from coast to coast during the pandemic.

From rural Vermont to northwest Arkansas to greater Bemidji, communities have been incentivizing and inviting people to relocate to their communities.

Greater Bemidji's "2-1-8 Relocator"is one such program and here to help us better understand the program and how it works and why it's appealing are my two guests today.

Erin Echternach is with Greater Bemidji and Tony Carr is a recent transplant to Bemidji and I'd like to welcome them both to the program.

Thank you so much for making time for our conversation today.

Erin - thanks so much for having me Tony - thanks for having us.

Jason - Absolutely.

Well, first of all, Erin, what exactly does Greater Bemidji do?

Let's just talk about that organization before we talk about the program.

Erin - so Greater Bemidji is actually the economic development organization for really the northwest region of minnesota - our Greater Bemidji area.

Our mission is promoting prosperity and driving development, so part of that was something that we talked about way back in actually 2019, and early 2019, before the pandemic, was this infrastructure that we have with fiber optic gigabite internet and this Gigazone that we have through Paul Bunyan Communications and how do we best capitalize on that and attract companies - that's where our thought was.

When the pandemic hit, and that season of life of everyone working from home came to be - we kind of switched gears.

We said - let's attract those telecommuters, maybe that's an easier kind of more "niche" aspect of what we can offer.

We know that Bemidji has the lakes, the trees, the arts, the culture, the health care, quality of life.

Let's promote that along with this infrastructure and try to attract those telecommuters and thus, "218 Relocate" was born so that launched February 1st of 2021, and so we are just over 10 almost 11 months in - it's been amazing.

Jason - so this program, though, is really only for those folks that are remote workers, right, who aren't necessarily tethered to a particular office space?

Erin - yes, currently, so we always have this long vision or aspect of 218 Relocate - we left it very wide open to be able to adjust and kind of pivot if we're seeing different trends within the workforce and workforce development.

Telecommuting was just what we jumped on and that was the niche market that we were able to capture.

Jason - so how exactly, tell us about the program mechanics - how does this work if I'm living elsewhere in the country and I'm interested in relocating to northern Minnesota - what do I do?

how does it work?

Tell me a little bit about the nuts and bolts of the program.

Erin - right, so there is a lot, there are a lot of people, a lot of families, that are moving and choosing that life/work balance versus that work/life balance and that quality of life versus just working to have a life.

They're looking, they're looking to see what's going to make their their life/work balance work for them, and they're choosing that - so if they're finding 218 Relocate, really, they should be looking for "Okay, I have a company who's flexible, who is allowing me to work and relocate elsewhere i'm going to bring my job with me and my family is going to move to Bemidji, Minnesota and along with that, they get up to $2500 reimbursed moving expenses.

That could include internet connection when you're here, it could include, literally, the moving expenses of a u-haul trailer coming here.

They get a co-working space or launch pad co-working space which is within The Mayflower Building at Greater Bemidji - they get a free membership for a year there.

We've partnered with the Chamber where they get a free membership so they can get integrated into the business community.

This free access to the community concierge - so we're making that authentic connection with their family to other individuals here, and then also there's a gentleman here named Justin Derose and he's been teleworking for 10, 10 years or so, and he's offering support for those that, maybe it's a new concept, that within 2020, their company went this way.

But that being said, we have a lot of people that have been doing this for a really long time that are just now choosing - Let's move somewhere where we're going to love where we live.

Jason - Sure, Well, I want to learn more about the program and kind of how you vet folks - but first of all, Tony, I want to welcome you to Bemidji.

Tony - Thank you.

Jason - now, is this your first experience in Bemidji, why did you choose Bemidji, how did you choose Bemidji, how'd you learn about the program?

Tony - Absolutely.

So I was lucky enough to meet my wife in Bemidji several years ago and through her, we decided to relocate back here for a number of reasons.

Just as Erin mentioned, the quality of life, the activities, the close-knit community feel that Bemidji has - so we were familiar with that before we moved here and my wife Sharon is from the area and we were previously living in Denver, Colorado, which, being a much bigger city, has a higher cost of living and a lot of stressors that include traffic and congestion and just the population growth and it made it a lot more stressful for us to try to enjoy raising our two daughters.

We have two young daughters who are in preschool and in elementary school, and we were, of course, looking for a place where we could raise them and give them the best quality of life and Bemidji was very high up on the list and when we had the ability to relocate, we decided that Bemidji was going to be a good fit for us, and a good fit for raising our girls, and that's why we decided to move here.

Well I see that you work for Boeing and Boeing, of course, is a titan of industry, and I'm curious how did Boeing, or was Boeing involved in this decision?

Did they not support the relocation, or tell me a little bit about your relationship with Boeing and what you do, actually.

Tony - Absolutely.

So they're very supportive.

First of all, my title is "Geospatial Technician", and what I do is I procure aeronautical data from civil aviation authorities that are located around the world.

We take that data and we make navigational charts and tools and solutions that pilots can use in the cockpits for their flights, and again, this goes all around the world, domestically and internationally, so that's what I do.

My previous arrangement was working in the Denver, Colorado office that Boeing has and we had a hybrid arrangement where I would work from home, actually, two days per week and go into our office three days per week, so I was already a little bit accustomed to a virtual lifestyle.

In March of 2020, when the pandemic hit, immediately everybody and every position that could go virtual went virtual.

We went remote, obviously, due to the safety reasons, the unknown of Covid 19, and as the pandemic has progressed along, we stayed in a virtual and remote environment, again, for safety, and through this experience we proved that we could do our jobs efficiently, just as effectively, if not more effectively, than when we were in our office and we actually then, within that year, sold our office building that we were previously working in, and decided to be permanently remote employees.

At that point, from Covid kind of being the spur to start that movement, we showed that as an organization we could telecommute and work remote effectively, and that opened the doors to a lot of opportunity and a completely new thought process to relocation.

"Do I actually need to be living in the city where my job was previously located, or do I have a greater flexibility now that I can essentially live where I want to.

Jason - Interesting, it's really interesting to me how the work that you're doing Erin, and your relocation Tony, is so tied to the pandemic in that there's been a real reimagining of the workplace right?

So how, Tony, how did you learn about this unique relocation program here if you were living in Denver?

Erin - Oh, that's a, I don't know that i've heard that story.

Tony - so it's a very interesting story, so I'd heard of a couple programs that existed across the United States previously, there was one in Topeka, Kansas, there was one in West Virginia and I thought Bemidji was kind of in that area where they might offer similar programs to that.

I heard of a couple other smaller towns across the nation sprouting up that had relocation programs and as an optional move, which this was for me, my company decided not to reimburse because, again, this was a move that was going to be at my expense and so I just started researching and one evening I actually saw a commercial that came on the television and it was for the "218 relocate" program and it was for remote employees that were interested in living and working in the northland in the Greater Bemidji area.

I was not aware of that program when I moved from Denver to Bemidji.

However, during the move, my wife and I, we kept all the receipts, everything that we had paid for in the move, which was a u-haul and of course other moving expenses and we were lucky enough to save those and then once again, when I learned about the program through that television commercial, I reached out to Erin, and I was lucky enough to make that contact and get reimbursed after we had already made the move, but prior to making that move that was something that I wasn't aware of - because, as you mentioned, this was a pretty long distance move, coming from Denver to Bemidji and I actually learned about it about a month or so after we eventually got to the area.y Erin - yep, well and you had been here too, though, for a while, like with Sharon and your kids too, right, and then physically made the move , and like, hey, we're gonna take advantage of it, right?

Tony - so we had been here and again, when I saw that television commercial and I looked at my current circumstances, it wasn't something where immediately I thought that this was perfect for me, but when I thought about it for a few minutes, I thought I'm a remote worker, I'm relocating to Bemidji, I haven't been reimbursed by my company, and this is something that is actually a perfect fit for me.

Once I, once I went through that thought process and reached out to Erin, the 218 relocate program was a perfect fit for me and I've utilized it and it's really helped to launch both, you know, me and my family's lives here in the Bemidji area and it's just been a perfect fit for us.

Jason - so you saw it on TV and when you told your wife Sharon, who, as you said, is from Bemidji, what was her reaction to this opportunity?

Tony - so she was thrilled, she thought, "hey, here's some free money for us."

This this was something that we weren't counting on, I wasn't counting on, we hadn't written any of this into our budget, so we had looked at it as, you know, basically free money, and then the opportunity to get connected a little bit tighter with the community and to maybe start developing a network and and getting to know some people, and that's exactly what it's been.

I've met some other people through this program and again, besides the money, it's just been a great tool to help me meet people and to help our lives get accustomed to the Bemidji area and just, just to start anew basically, to get that fresh start, which was exactly what we were looking for and it really helped launch that for us.

Jason - I think I saw a quote that said something to the effect of when you look back at that tv ad, it's almost as if it was made for you,right?

Tony - "that's right, so once I think back to it, and I still see it on TV from time to time , because I know with the marketing and advertising it's reaching a lot of people and there are a lot of people who would be a great fit for it, just like myself, but once I saw it and I still see it, you know that it's for people who are working remotely, who have that privilege, who are interested in relocating to Bemidji for a number of reasons, whether to be closer to family, the lower stress life, the tight community feel, the number of reasons that people might come to Bemidji from outside the area, and when I see that, I think those are all the reasons that I came here and I've got that type of opportunity and that flexibility with my current job to meet those requirements, and thankfully we saved our receipts and all of our moving expenses and so we were able to submit that and be reimbursed and the program essentially did exactly what it said it would do for us.

Jason - I liked how you described working remotely as a privilege, because certainly that doesn't work for everyone's profession, right, there are only some folks that are even able to work remotely.

Tony - "for sure, so that's something that I don't take for granted any day - once we got that ability, again through COVID, which kind of kick-started all of that, I wanted to see what would be the best move for myself and for my family.

When you look at the quality of life and in Denver, unfortunately, the cost of living is very high and whether that comes to looking for a house to buy, or doing activities, just anything that you're doing in your day-to-day life, is a lot more expensive, and so again, we've got two young girls and we were looking to get a little bit of a bigger home and buy a house that we could be proud to raise them in.

That was one of the big draws was the extreme difference in the cost of living, coming from a big expensive city like Denver to Bemidji, which has a much lower cost of living and that's benefited us extremely because we were able to afford a much larger and nicer home here than we would be in the Denver area just because of that cost of living differential that we see.

Jason - extreme difference in cost of living, that's an interesting way to describe it.

So you know, you've said that Boeing has had this reimagining of their workplace but yet they were not willing to pay for your relocation expenses, right?

I think Boeing is at least a Fortune 100 company, if not a fortune 50, I don't know specifically, but it's a titan, for sure, so why not, why didn't they pay for it?

Tony - "I think it's just because it's so early on in the process, this isn't just new to employees but it's new to the company itself.

We had our hybrid arrangement where we were expected to be in the office three days a week and could work from home two days a week and certainly not every position at Boeing has that, and, and as you just mentioned, some positions are much better suited to that flexibility in that remote work option, but I think as we get a little bit further out from the pandemic and Boeing does a deeper analysis of what positions can truly be remote and have that flexibility, it's going to obviously save them costs - whether that be building expenses, maintenance costs, and obviously compete with a tight labor market that we're seeing out there right now, and that gives employees an extremely nice option to be able to live where they want to live and to have a perfect balance between their personal lives and their day-to-day work responsibilities.

Well, Tony, I want to learn more about your motivations and your experience here in Bemidji, of course, but let's go back to the program itself.

So, what's this co-working space thing?

I mean, of course, we're all hearing a little bit more about it, but for those folks who aren't familiar, or are hearing that term for the first time, what is a co-working space?

It's exactly what it sounds like; it's a co-working space, it's an open concept where individuals that are working remotely have the ability, if their company allows and they don't have data security issues, to come and work with people, so those that are working remotely they don't have to work from their home all the time if they don't want to.

They can come and kind of plop down wherever at the launch pad.

It's membership based, but again, with this program we wanted to give that opportunity for those that are going to be moving to the community and then they're also going to be working from home - how hard is that for them to be able to meet people.

Any opportunity that we can give them to network and just get out and meet people in the community - the co-working space is a perfect option for that.

Jason - so the co-working space is available for just about anyone in the community, but it's technically, informally, a part of the 218 relocator.

Erin - yes, we definitely saw that as something that was very beneficial that we already had in place, it's been around since 2015 and there's a lot of entrepreneurs and small businesses that access that, which is really why it was created, but when this telecommuting concept became more popular, it made sense to be able to offer that, we have it there , we want it to be full of life and full of people - they're still getting their work done but they're also networking and they're meeting with other people, and who knows what that spurs, honestly, between companies.between individuals.

Jason - so you mean it's also a networking hub?

Erin - "Completely."

Jason - How is that working during the pandemic?

I mean it seems as if some people would be a little bit averse to a co-working space during the pandemic.

Erin - we, you know, it has been - we've heard that from a lot of those that are reliant on that actually being the income to support the co-working space.

We're very fortunate that our board of directors actually saw this as a benefit of Greater Bemidji and supporting small businesses and entrepreneurs - that it's not necessarily a cash flow issue for us to be able to keep it open.

We did see a decrease within the pandemic of people physically being there, but they were also engaged.

I mean, we have trainings, we have other opportunities where they can connect, not physically necessarily being there, so we did see a lot of that through the pandemic.

That being said, ...now that we're kind of, you know the boosters are there, and vaccines are becoming more readily available, we're seeing that increase of capacity and networking down there .

Jason - one of the things I've been wondering is why is it that Greater Bemidji has to foot the bill for this relocator, why isn't it the City of Bemidji or the county, for example.

Why isn't the public sector doing the same thing?

Erin - it's a very innovative approach and honestly very fast moving.

When we decided to do this - we have amazing partnerships with the city and the county, they're promoting this, they are funneling a lot of the questions that they're getting, because people do assume it's like a city or county program but the reason that economic development decided to do that is because we saw this opportunity to attract people from other companies that we may not have access to in Bemidji, Minnesota.

What better way to do that than through the telecommuters?

We are actually very fortunate that we have the George W. Nielsen Foundation here.

We approached them about this idea and they're actually funding the pilot portion of the program.

Initially it was a two-year pilot - I think we're running through that funding pretty quickly, so in 11 months we're probably gonna be knocking on their door saying "Hey, here's the next concept that we have.

"It's working, so let's just try to build upon this and ride this momentum and this wave."

Jason - so how many people have taken you up on the 218 relocator program, how many families or individuals have moved to the community?

Erin - so generally, they're contacting me before they're moving.

About that, too, a lot of them are like Anthony, where he was here temporarily, he's thinking "we're making this move, here's this opportunity."

I didn't hear from him until he actually applied, but they're generally contacting me before they move and out of the 70+ individuals I'm working with at any given time, there's 24 currently that have gotten grants through this relocation program and that, I mean, we have six(6) that are already on deck for December to be approved as well through our board of directors.

Jason - so that'll be 30 in year 1?

Erin - there would be 30 in 11 months, so yes.

Jason - "remarkable."

"now are these mostly individuals or families that are also relocating?

Is it a mix?"

Erin - It really depends, and honestly, I think we had this idea of who might be relocating and it was initially..

I was kind of naive to the fact that it would be somebody from Boeing that's taking advantage of this.

Jason - Right.

But, like that, that upper level management - we're seeing a lot of those relocating, those that can't early retire, so it's a lot of families, it's a lot of couples, but the age range is probably within 25 to 50-55 so it's a really broad spectrum of those that are coming here.

Jason - so there are other companies, then, that are also represented, other companies like Boeing for example, maybe not quite as large, but like that.

Erin - yes, we have Boston Scientific, we have people that are working here, we have a couple from Mayo Clinic that actually came up, so there's one application per household that's applicable but it's a couple that both worked for Mayo and they decided to relocate here.

We have Collins Aerospace that's here, Capgemini is a consulting company that's here.

It's pretty amazing, some of these companies that we're able to connect with.

Jason - so for these 30 families or individuals that within the last 11 months have taken you up on this offer, what's the most compelling thing to them?

I mean, are they telling you it's the money, are they telling you it's the launch pad, are they telling you it's just the community itself?

Would they have moved without the 2500 bucks?

You know, I think some of them would have, I'm just jumping out on a limb here, because we were very intentional when we actually developed the program too.

There are a lot of communities that are saying ..I mean, Topeka is one of them too, "$10,000.00 - come, come to our community," "$15,000.00 for I think, it's Fond du lac county in Wisconsin.

We wanted to be very intentional.

We wanted it to be the cherry on top, honestly, like I want someone who has an affinity to Bemidji to want to be here, or has some sort of connection, and really wants to give Bemidji a shot and not just leave in a year.

I think that they're moving here honestly, especially when they're connecting with me beforehand, because we're making that authentic, genuine attempt to integrate them into the community and make sure that they understand - "we want you here."

"It's not a flash in the pan, it's not a gimmick, we want to connect you with people - you're not in your head, so I'm hoping that he's like, "yep, we followed through on that."

Jason - so what was the biggest draw for you?

Was it, was it the fact that your wife had her roots here, or was there some part of the relocator program that really helped you make this decision?"

I think Erin said it well, as nodding my head... the "cherry on top" is a perfect way to describe it.

We made the move without having any prior knowledge about the 218 relocate program and the fact that it even existed and then offered those types of opportunities, whether it be the reimbursement, the networking, the co-working space, the things like that.

It was completely the "cherry on top", because we initially made the move to kind of get away from some of the stressors and the things that we were experiencing out in Denver, you know, including the cost of living and just the growing population and just that congestion and the tightness you feel, just almost overwhelmed in your day-to-day life with the amount of people and the amount of traffic that you see.

We were really seeking a quieter, more laid back and relaxed lifestyle, which is exactly what we got here in Bemidji and again, my wife being from the area and having the connections, having grown up here, that's what really led us here, being able to get that lower cost of living and the relaxed lifestyle and when I found out that we could do that, not completely free of charge, but definitely get a good portion of that covered and reimbursed, it was a complete no-brainer for us.

Jason - yeah, moving's not cheap , right?

Tony - it's not, but because of all those other things, I can say that we would have moved to the area, again, with or without knowing about the program, but the program has been such a good fit for me that I had to take advantage of it once I learned about it because of all of its benefits and again, just the the number of things that it benefits those employees, those people , and those families that are relocating here, it was just a no-brainer to not reach out to Erin and say "Hey, this is something that is a really good fit for me, I meet all these criteria, we're coming to Bemidji and it's turned out.

like I said, to be, I think , a very good mutual relationship Jason - I mean it sounds like in your case there was both a push and a pull, right?

You were struggling a bit with the rapidly growing urban areas on the front ranges in Colorado but you also were attracted to what Bemidji had to offer, right?

Tony - sure, I think it was a combination, and another thing that made it easy was both my wife, myself, and my daughters, we loved a lot of the activities that the nearby mountains had, especially in the winter time, whether that be skiing or ice skating, things like that, and Bemidji, with its location, having a lot of those obviously similar winter activities and things that we like to do, but now it's just out our front door, we don't have to make a two-hour drive from the city of Denver out to the mountains; we can just open our front door and maybe walk a couple of steps and be at a lake that we can ice skate on or that we can ice fish on and the girls can walk over to a hill and and go sledding down it, and instead of trying to plan for that trip that we need to make out to the mountains, to get those benefits where it has those colder temperatures and that greater amount of snow.

Erin - "I like that you mentioned the winter, because there are people that contact us..

I'm saying "Do you know where Bemidji is?

and they have no concept, that we are not 70 degrees all year round.

I mean, it really is like making sure that it's an authentic attempt.

It's a great point to showcase our community and what we have to offer and there are people that move from New Mexico and Arizona too, so I got to keep them here somehow and that's where that community helps.

Tony - Sharon and myself are very similar, we have a lot of the same likes, we like the cold temperatures, we like the winters, we like the festive change of seasons - the fall foliage and the winter activities and the things that also come with spring and summer so Bemidji was just an all-around great fit from that perspective for us.

Jason - so briefly, Tony, how old were your daughters when you moved here to Bemidji?

Tony - my youngest was three and my oldest was six years old .

Jason - and you've been here for how long now?

Tony - we've been here for not even one year yet.

Jason - okay, and what do they think?

Tony - they love it, they love having just that ability to roam around, to play, to do those those things that young kids like to do without having to watch out for traffic and cars, and getting to breathe that fresh air and just getting to have that experience, the amenities and that open atmosphere, they love it .

Jason - so who else is doing this in Minnesota?

Erin - there are others in Minnesota, I know that Harmony, Minnesota is offering, I think, free land to build.

There's actually a website called: makemymove.com and that's originally where we were showcased.

I didn't even know the website existed until we found it one day and Bemidji was on there with the 218 relocate program, so you can always look to see what other things are out there but every community is going to have to decide what makes their community unique and if this is the right fit for them because all the programs are different.

Jason - so if a family moves here, do they have to stay here, are they contractually obligated?

Erin - you're not contractually obligated, however, I would love for them to stay.

We have people that, honestly, have thrown a dart at the map at Bemidji too, and during the process, they've fallen in love with the community and I really rely on my volunteers through the community concierge network when we're matching new families with locals that are here.

Again, a very intentional way to try to bridge that gap of having them not feel so lonely when they move to a new community, and yeah it's been it's been pretty amazing.

Jason - last question, yes or no, are you going to continue to offer this program going forward?

Erin - I hope so, we have to approach the george George W. Nielsen foundation and hopefully, the success that we've seen allows us to actually branch off into different aspects too, so we're looking more towards relocating for those physical jobs that are here too, because of workforce development, and that's just been a crisis lately, so how do we help with that?

We're reimagining what that looks like, attracting talent here Jason - well, Erin, thank you so much for promoting the fantastic community of Bemidji and Tony, thank you for sharing your story, I really appreciate it.

Thanks so much for having us.

Absolutely, and thank all of you for joining me.

Once again, I'm Jason Edens, your host of Lakeland Currents.

You can tweet me at @currentspbs about future show ideas.

Be kind and be well.

See you next week.