CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA (November 8, 2019) — Linn County and The City of Cedar Rapids became The 98th and 99th Home Base Iowa Communities. Home Base Iowa Program Manager Jason Kemp and Iowa Workforce Development Veteran Coordinator Jaime Norton announced that the commmunities have met qualifications to become centers of opportunity for veterans. Community members, business leaders, and veterans attended the ceremony and celebrated each community’s commitment to the veteran population.
“As businesses and communities look to attract quality employees and assist veterans and their families, becoming a Home Base Iowa Community helps a region connect with our veteran population, all while creating great opportunities in the state,” said Jaime Norton, Iowa Workforce Development Veteran Coordinator.
Home Base Iowa is a one-of-a-kind program that connects veterans and transitioning service members with over 2,400 businesses statewide that have pledged to hire over 15,000 veterans. In addition, the program also has 27 college and university partners.
The program connects businesses and communities with veteran job-seekers using the “Find a Veteran” feature on the Home Base Iowa website. Find a Veteran allows Home Base Iowa businesses and communities access to all active veteran job-seekers who have submitted their résumé through the website. The program has had over 1,000 veteran résumés submitted in the last 18 months.
Businesses and communities are also alerted by e-mail when a veteran résumé is published with matching-location and industry criteria. These features allow program partners to directly connect and market to veterans by providing businesses with a user-friendly platform to find veterans with the skills they need. Find a Veteran also helps communities market their opportunities and quality-of-life in order to attract veterans and their families.
Iowa offers many incentives to veterans and transitioning service members including no state taxes on military pension and veteran-hiring preference, which allows veteran preferential-treatment in hiring decisions for both public and private organizations. Additionally, the state of Iowa provides up to $7,500 for the down-payment or closing-costs of a home through the Iowa Finance Authority Military Homeownership Assistance Program (subject to funding availability). The state also provides in-state tuition rates for qualifying veterans, their spouses, and their dependents.
Home Base Iowa designates qualified communities as centers of opportunity for military veterans based on four standards:
- Within a designated community, at least 10 percent of eligible, hiring businesses must become HBI businesses and pledged to hire veterans;
- Community develops its own incentive package for veterans;
- Community prominently displays HBI Community designation; and
- Community must obtain a resolution of support from the appropriate local governing body.
Linn County and the city of Cedar Rapids have met or exceeded these requirements. For more information on Home Base Iowa, please visit www.HomeBaseIowa.gov.
Home Base Iowa is a non-profit, private-public partnership that focuses on recruiting veterans and active duty service members for quality, well-paying jobs in Iowa.
