In response to Fond du Lac County’s aging population and ongoing worker shortages, Envision Greater Fond du Lac has enlisted national relocation platform MakeMyMove to help bring 32 new households to the county, using a state-funded marketing and recruitment campaign that emphasizes community fit.
An update on the initiative, which launched May 14, was presented by MakeMyMove representatives at a community roundtable held Thursday, July 9 at Envision Greater Fond du Lac’s office.
The campaign is backed by a $346,000 WEDC grant, a $100,000 local match and $80,000 in employer contributions — a roughly half-million-dollar effort in total. Rather than leading with open job positions, the program markets the county itself — its schools, housing options, outdoor recreation and community life — to workers considering a move.
Within about six weeks of launch, the program has drawn interest from 3,713 people across all 50 states, with roughly 1,700 submitting full applications. Of those, 543 represent dual-income households and 12 include military veterans. Applicants skew slightly older and more family-oriented than MakeMyMove’s typical mover: the average household size applying to Fond du Lac is 2.5 people, compared with a 2.3 average sitewide, and 43% of applicants say they’re relocating with children.
“We want people to move and stay and invest in the community and put roots down into the community. And a lot of these applicants want the same thing, so they’re looking for a place to call home and a lot of them are seeing that in Fond du County,” said Katherine Wolgemuth, director of client success at MakeMyMove, which has relocated roughly 4,000 households across its partner communities since 2021.
Six households have already accepted local job offers or otherwise committed to the move, including hires at Alliance Laundry Systems, at a local health care provider and a new pastor for an area church.
Envision Greater Fond du Lac President & CEO Sadie Howell said the current 32-household goal is just a starting point.
“We are pumped and very, very excited about this program and what it can mean to the community,” she said. “Our hope is that this is so successful that we’re coming back to either our municipal partners or our employers to say with another $250,000 or $300,000 we could move another 30 or 40 [households]. That’s the goal.”
To qualify, applicants must be relocating from outside Wisconsin, secure housing within six months of accepting a program seat and commit to staying at least a year — a threshold tied to how the cash relocation incentive is disbursed, with half paid upfront and half after 12 months. Job seekers must also meet a household income minimum of $55,000. MakeMyMove reports a 90% annual retention rate among movers who reach the four-year mark across its marketplace.
Fond du Lac’s relocation package is valued at $9,500 total, including $5,500 in cash plus non-monetary incentives such as a Fond du Lac YMCA membership, youth recreation league passes, sports tickets, home improvement vouchers, and access to unique local experiences like a picnic at Bluestem Bison Farm.
Local employers can plug into the pipeline in two ways: through dedicated profiles on the county’s MakeMyMove microsite that links directly to their hiring process, or using the program as an added incentive when courting out-of-state candidates already in their own hiring funnel.
Five industries are seeing the heaviest applicant interest so far including advanced manufacturing, education, health care, skilled trades and transportation/logistics, with smaller pools of candidates across nearly every sector represented in the broader applicant base.
Envision is also piloting a talent portal giving employer HR leaders direct access to applicant resumes, expected to roll out more broadly in the coming months, and is recruiting a volunteer “welcome crew” to help new arrivals get connected once they arrive.
Howell said the initiative is needed now, as approximately one in five county residents is age 65 or older and demographic projections show that without intentional action, the county could begin experiencing population decline over the next two decades.
“Thirty-two [households] aren’t going to solve our population decline, but doing several small things together can make a larger impact,” she said.
