Move to Mitchell campaign helps 12 families, individuals relocate to Mitchell, including Ukraine family
Sam Fosness, The Daily Republic, Mitchell, S.D.
5 min read
Dec. 15—MITCHELL — Living in a war-torn country over the past year has made life difficult for Oleksandr Osadchuk and his family.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Osadchuk was in search of a better life away from conflict and the horrors of war. And he and his wife and daughter have found that in Mitchell.
"It was war everyday. I've seen a rocket go by me about 40 feet away from me. One year of seeing that everyday is enough forever. We had to get out of there," Osadchuk said. "There are definitely good jobs here. Everyone has been very nice to us."
Moving comes with plenty of challenges, especially when the move is to another country with a different language and culture.
Thanks to the Mitchell Area Development Corporation and Chamber of Commerce, the Osadchuk family's big move to the Midwest has gone smoothly since landing in Mitchell in the fall. The Osadchuk family has ties to Mitchell through Oleksandr's sister and mother, who have resided in Mitchell over the past decade, which influenced his family's decision to relocate here.
The Osadchuk family is one of 12 instances in which an individual or family moved to Mitchell in the past few months and received a $1,000 check from the Chamber of Commerce. The $1,000 check has helped the Ukrainian family stock their shelves with groceries and supplies inside their new home.
"It's definitely been helpful. We had an empty house right away," Osadchuk said. "Some stuff is more expensive here than what it is in Ukraine."
The impact that the $1,000 incentive has had on the Osadchuk family is exactly what leaders at the Chamber of Commerce envisioned when they rolled out the Move to Mitchell campaign this fall. Participants are provided with $1,000 to assist their move to Mitchell. Recipients have the freedom to use the money however they choose.
Mike Lauritsen, the Mitchell Area Development Corporation's workforce and housing director, has helped steer the Move to Mitchell campaign. It is a bi-product of Gov. Krsiti Noem's "Freedom Works Here" workforce recruitment campaign, and Lauritsen credited the governor's office for the impact its having locally.
As of Friday morning, the "Freedom Works Here" website claimed that 7,980 total workers were interested in moving to South Dakota and that 1,991 total workers have received individual assistance.
The Freedom Works Here campaign is Noem's signature marketing effort to attract workers to South Dakota. The $5 million contract produced television and online advertisements featuring the governor in jobs such as a plumber and electrician. That campaign has been expanded by another $1.5 million to fund a second phase of ads, the first of which featured Noem portraying an accountant.
"We've had multiple of them say, 'We saw your governor's advertisement on TV, so we were looking at South Dakota.' It seems to be working," Lauritsen said of Gov. Noem's Freedom Works Here workforce recruitment campaign.
The Mitchell Chamber of Commerce has $25,000 allocated for the campaign, and roughly half of those funds have been dispersed. The state provided the funds for the Move to Mitchell campaign, as part of Gov. Noem's Freedom Works Here campaign.
The Chamber of Commerce has made the process to receive the $1,000 incentive as easy as possible, Lauritsen. Showing proof of residency in Mitchell city limits by providing the Chamber of Commerce with a purchase or rental agreement and a pay stub that shows a job has been secured are the only requirements for new residents to receive the $1,000 incentive.
"It's not 15 pages of documents you have to fill out asking for all sorts of information. It's a one-page document that is simple to fill out. We've made it that way to attract more people to use it," he said.
For the other 11 families and individuals who have moved to Mitchell and received the $1,000 incentive, Lauritsen said the plentiful job opportunities, local schools and cost of living all played a major role in attracting them to Mitchell.
"A common theme I've heard from the families and people we've worked with is that we have a lot of job opportunities and a good school system, which is great to hear. Good schools are a very important asset to a community that help spur growth," he said.
After a decade of being stagnant and seeing a minimal 3% growth in population from 2010 to 2020, kickstarting growth in Mitchell has been a shared goal among leaders at the Chamber of Commerce and Development Corporation. Lauritsen said the Move to Mitchell campaign is one of several examples that the Chamber of Commerce and MADC have implemented to spur growth.
Lauritsen said welcoming new families to Mitchell has emphasized the need for more affordable housing options in the city.
The Chamber says there are over 600 job openings in Mitchell, as of early December. That means there is no shortage of work to accommodate the new residents, but there is a shortage of affordable housing arrangements.
"In my discussions with some of our largest employers and industry leaders during business retention expansion visits, they repeatedly say we need more housing," Lauritsen said.
While the Move to Mitchell campaign has helped local businesses across a variety of industries gain new employees, Lauritsen said it's a tiny dent in filling the open jobs. Ten local businesses have gained new employees from the 12 families and individuals who tapped into the Move to Mitchell campaign.
The lack of housing options have resulted in the creation of a nonprofit called Mitchell Area Housing Incorporated and the Ridgeview on Foster workforce housing development across the street from Avera Queen of Peace.
Lauritsen points to the Ridgeview on Foster development as a key breakthrough toward providing more affordable housing needs to spur more significant growth in Mitchell.
"You don't grow your economy without housing. Housing is the cornerstone of growing your economy. When you grow housing, you can grow employees and allow businesses to expand," Lauritsen said.
