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Up next, a push to attract

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a working age population.

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Would you consider moving to the

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small city of Fond du Lac to work?

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There's an incentive for that.

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Actually, two.

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One offers $9,500 to

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individuals from out of state to

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move to the city and maintain their

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remote jobs.

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The other helps employers recruit

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employees from areas at

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least 100 miles away and

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helps them offer prospective workers

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a $15,000 hiring bonus.

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Here to explain the program is

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Sadie Howell of Envision Greater

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Fond du Lac and thanks very much for

19
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being here.

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Thanks for having me.

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So why the push to have people move

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to Fond de Lac?

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You know, Fond du Lac County is

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facing a population decline,

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not unlike most of Wisconsin,

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actually.

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And at Envision, we

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are a combined chamber of

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commerce and economic development

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organization.

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And we hear from our

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businesses over and over for

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the past several years that

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it's really hard to

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find workers.

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Oops, I'm sorry.

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They just told me something.

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Did I up cut the lead?

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There was something happened,

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technically, and if you guys could

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be sure to pull that livestream

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right away.

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Sorry, you started

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right out of the shoot, it's great.

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So we're gonna try it

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again. There was some technical

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thing that happened that we were not

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aware of.

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It must have been bad, folks, or we

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wouldn't...

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Thank you.

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Thank you.

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Up next, a push to attract

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a working-age population.

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Would you consider moving to the

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small city of Fond du Lac to work?

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There's an incentive for that.

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Actually, two.

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One offers $9,500 to

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individuals from out of state to

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move to the city and maintain their

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remote jobs.

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The other helps employers recruit

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employees from areas at least

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100 miles away and helps

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them offer prospective workers a

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$15,000 hiring bonus.

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Here to explain the program is Sadie

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Howell of Envision Greater Fond du

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Lac, and thanks very much for being

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here.

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Thanks for having me.

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So why the push to

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help people move to Fond de Lac?

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In Fond du Lac County, we're facing

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a population decline,

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which isn't unlike the rest of the

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state, most of the State of

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Wisconsin.

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And at Envision, we are

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the combined Chamber of Commerce

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and Economic Development

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Organization.

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And so we have heard from our

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members and businesses for years

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that it's really hard to attract

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talent and find workers.

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So this has been a push at

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En vision and our strategic plan.

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On talent attraction campaigns.

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The $15,000 one you

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referenced we've had for quite a

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few years, and then most

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recently we launched

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a talent attraction

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with Make My Move

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due to a grant from

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the state of Wisconsin.

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So how bad is that population

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decline?

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I would say we're pretty stagnant

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right now.

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So in Fond du Lac County, it has

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been about a 1%

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population growth.

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We don't have a lot of natural

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birth, but we do

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have net in migration.

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And so we do an okay job

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of attracting people from different

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counties in Wisconsin and

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from out of the state.

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However, we're facing two really

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big.

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Years.

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2030 is when a lot

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of the baby boomers will retire

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and in 2040 is

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when our population is

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really expected to start to

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decline quite a bit

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and in preparation for that

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we wanted to make sure that we

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were starting to attract people

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before 2030 into

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2040.

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How many new residents and workers

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are you hoping to lure to your city?

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With the grant program.

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So that was from the state

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legislature put $5 million

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into a new

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grant through the Wisconsin Economic

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Development Corporation.

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And in vision applied, we

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received $346,000

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from WEDC.

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Envision's board of directors is

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putting about 100,000

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towards it and with that

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money we are partnering with

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Make My Move.

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They are a national platform that

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helps relocate individuals

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that are looking for a new

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place to call home and

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our goal is 32 families.

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So for both programs,

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individuals or employers have to

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fill out applications.

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What is interest looking like right

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now?

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For our make my move platform

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is pretty crazy.

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We actually just got our new

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statistics yesterday

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and 1700 people

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from around the country have

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expressed interest.

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900 of them have applied

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to move to Fond

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du Lac County. And then from

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those it's trickled down a little

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bit. We have six

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accepted movers already.

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We launched this May

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14th.

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So about a month and a half,

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two months almost in, we have

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six people already moving,

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one person already purchased a

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home in Fond du Lac County.

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So it's, it's incredible.

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It's really incredible.

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What Make My Move does

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and why they have been a great

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partner, we've been

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working with them for about six to

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nine months on creating all

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of the storytelling of why

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would somebody want to live in Fond

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du Lac County.

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So they sell the community

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first and then

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people apply.

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So we are resonating

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with an incredible number of people

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from around the country who want to

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come and live here.

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So if you were trying,

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as you are, to entice

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someone to move to Fond du Lac, what

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are its selling points?

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It's not a lot of different than

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what I think you would probably hear

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from other communities that

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come on.

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We have a little bit slower pace

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of life. We are a little smaller.

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We do have affordable

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homes.

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We do a

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wonderful mix of private

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and public schools.

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We have three institutions

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of higher learning in our

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county.

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And a plethora

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of careers.

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So there, you will

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have no problem

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trying to find your right

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career here.

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It's really, do you like outdoor

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00:09:32,330 --> 00:09:33,649
recreation?

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Do you still like to

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talk to your neighbors and find

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a place that you call community

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00:09:39,450 --> 00:09:41,369
where nonprofits are

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looking for volunteers?

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That's the kind of community that

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still exists in Fond du Lac County.

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00:09:47,820 --> 00:09:50,059
So briefly here, this obviously

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really works, this incentive

225
00:09:52,080 --> 00:09:54,279
program that you've set up.

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Are other cities across the state

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looking at something similar?

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Yeah, so we were one of

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17 communities that actually

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00:10:03,010 --> 00:10:05,209
received this grant from

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00:10:05,210 --> 00:10:06,289
WEDC.

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00:10:06,290 --> 00:10:08,169
So our neighbors to the

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00:10:08,170 --> 00:10:10,169
east, Sheboygan, and two

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00:10:10,170 --> 00:10:11,749
of our neighbors to the north,

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Oshkosh and the city of Appleton,

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00:10:14,210 --> 00:10:16,609
both received similar grants.

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00:10:16,610 --> 00:10:18,349
Now their programs look a little bit

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00:10:18,350 --> 00:10:20,289
different than ours,

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00:10:20,290 --> 00:10:22,209
but all of us had to follow

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00:10:22,210 --> 00:10:24,629
the same basic guidelines

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00:10:24,630 --> 00:10:27,109
when we received the grant.

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All right, well, Sadie Howell,

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thanks very much for joining us.

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Thank you.

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For more on this and other issues

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00:10:33,850 --> 00:10:35,809
facing Wisconsin, visit our website

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00:10:35,810 --> 00:10:37,769
at PBSWisconsin.org

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and then click on the news tab.

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That's our program for tonight.

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I'm Frederica Freiberg.

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Have a good weekend.

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I've watched you for years, and I

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love PBS.