The Maine Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD) is seeking to spend $2.5 million on a two-year marketing campaign to attract new workers to the state, according to a Request for Proposal (RFP) document published Monday.
The Department is seeking bids from marketing, communications and public relations firms for the “workforce attraction” campaign, which will “brand and promote the State of Maine as a place to work and live.”
[RELATED: Mills Admin, Nonprofits, and Big Biz Back New Migrant Resettlement Agency for Maine…]
According to DECD, the campaign comes as a part of Gov. Janet Mills’ (D) 10-year Economic Development Strategy, which seeks to bring 75,000 people into Maine’s workforce by 2029 — sourced both from Maine residents and from “in-migration.”
The proposed marketing campaign, however, will focus on “attracting talent, retaining students, and the relocation of individuals and families currently working and residing in other States to Maine,” the Department wrote.
“The awarded Bidder will develop and execute a marketing campaign to brand and promote Maine as a desirable place to work and live – from north to south, cities to rural parts of the state – with national and regional outreach components,” DECD wrote.
“In addition, the campaign will provide support through the development of tool kits for Chambers of Commerce, Maine businesses and trade associations, individual businesses and nonprofits seeking employees, educational districts and institutions, and other relevant stakeholders within Maine working to promote and enhance Maine’s image as a great place to live and work as part of their on-going efforts to attract job seekers,” they added.
To justify the $2.5 million marketing campaign, DECD pointed to Maine’s median age being 44.6 years, above the national average of 38.1 years.
“Among a variety of factors, most noticeably, the aging of Maine’s population may result in the loss of an estimated 65,000 from our workforce over the next 10 years,” the Department wrote, explaining that the state has been “focusing its efforts to capitalize on the positive net-domestic ‘in-migration’ of workers of the recent years.”
A key component of the Mills administration’s push for “in-migration” to the state will come from the governor’s Office of New Americans (ONA), which was funded by a last-minute budget amendment on the final day of the legislative session.
[RELATED: Democrats Force Through Controversial Office of New Americans by Hiding it Inside Budget Bill…]
Proposed via executive order by Gov. Mills last August, the ONA is geared towards using taxpayer funds to help migrants integrate into the state’s workforce.
The DECD marketing campaign, according to the RFP, will also “pay special attention” to attracting immigrant workers to Maine.
“Growing Maine’s racial, ethnic, and multilingual workforce is key to achieve our overarching talent attraction goal, particularly among workers with easily transferrable skills,” DECD wrote.
“Furthermore, this campaign seeks to pay special attention to the two-plus million college-educated (or beyond) immigrants in the United States who are under-employed and are not able to optimize their academic and professional background with their current occupations in states outside of Maine,” the Department continued. “Maine is putting forth an array of coordinated initiatives to ensure internationally trained workers and professionals are able to reach their optimal career potential in Maine.”
“Growing Maine’s racial, ethnic, and multilingual workforce is key to achieve our overarching talent attraction goal, particularly among workers with easily transferrable skills,” DECD wrote.
Really?! So why do the vast majority of the “New Mainers” require English language instruction, subsidized housing, food stamps and job training? Engineers, doctors, scientists and other professionals, who already have transferable skills, can make their own decisions on where to live and work. What a waste of taxpayer money…but does that surprise anyone?
Schools are dead last in performance, so let s bring in cohorts who will REALLY strain our education budget – and pay $2.5 to fund that genius move
Augusta, doubling down on stupid every day
Why not make Maine more attractive without tricking people with ads?
The best talent to keep are the ones straight out of school who leave right away. They have the most working years ahead.
Waiting to see how the governor will be creating 75000 unskilled jobs for uneducated invaders, you potato pickers should be worried. Tell me again how this will bring the high tec, well paying companies to Maine? Modern slavery, working on the democrat’s plantation, funded with your taxes.
Why?
Mills and her pals have made Maine unfriendly to businesses and the middle class.
High taxes, poor education, overdone regulations.
By the sounds of this it’s more of the Dems’ favorite past time of attracting failure instead of success.
How about doing something about high taxes, energy costs and oppressive regulations to attract companies that will bring good paying jobs?
Oh no, can’t do that.
Gotta have that poor, welfare, poorly educated base so they can remain in power forever.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Mills and co come up withe some plan to try to tax the income in part of summer residents
DECD, ONA-Two more useless gov’t agencies the dems use to piddle away your money. The problem is the gov’t. If you want more prosperity less is more when it comes to gov’t. A good education and a friendly business environment, two things Maine is lacking in, are the keys to raising peoples prospects. Not this kind of lefty garbage comrade Mills pushes.
Diversity, equity and inclusion is a false narrative, DEI actually references DIDN’T EARN IT. That’s exactly what we’ll get when the basis of hiring is skin color or other deviant sexual preferences. The only real way to hire an employee is totally based upon merit and experience.
Growing Maines Democrat Voting Base !
One Day at a Time .
Don’t think for one minute that the crazy women in Augusta, with their cool hyphenated names , will be demanding to let “ the new Mainers “ VOTE along with the “ real “ Mainers .
IT’S COMING TO YOUR CITY AND TOWN ……Wake up Sport !
More votes for the progressive anti American democrat leftists that surround us .
George Soros is a happy man in that all these rubes can’t ( don’t want to ) see it coming .
Maybe in lieu of that stupid new flag that looks like a fourth graders sewing project , we could have an outline of the state with a picture of Mr Potato Head in the center . ….
Welcome to Maine ,,,,Land of The Potato Heads
? Entiendes lo que quire decir idiotas ? “
Don’t like this? (And I don’t!) Remember to vote next Tuesday! Last flood the Maine state legislature with conservative Republicans to make a change! Tell your friends! It’s important to the saving of our state!
Me Infidel, No it dosent surprise me. What does surprise me, the majority of Mainers allow this. THAT surprises me after all we have seen these kooks in charge do. Im a born here Mainer, never seen it as bad as it is now.
“assimulate – to absorb into the cultural tradition of a population or group” Should it be done the guest or the host
I was shopping at Walmart in Windham and asked 5 different employees that were stocking shelves where I could locate a bathroom scale. All 5 were new comers and could not understand the English language. We are doomed!
This is what Maine is wasting money on? Our schools are failing. our roads are crumbling. Our taxes are high. Do we print money like the federal government?
DEI = Didn’t Earn It. How does dividing people up into races and then giving certain races who have presented the biggest drag on society amount to the “key to achieve our overarching talent attraction goal preference.”???? NONE OF THESE WORDS MAKE SENSE. Remember that. They know that the more they repeat words that don’t make sense, that maybe we’ll accept them. But DON’T. Stay alert. This is all BS to try to give as much of our money away as possible to buy votes from people with their hands out to keep Democrats in power…because it’s the only way they can stay in power.
Why do Mainers keep electing Democrat leaders who spend our tax dollar on unnecessary wasteful spending. Really, we need to attract workers with the multi-thousands of illegal immigrants being currently supported by us the tax payers?
Mainers are struggling with Bidenomics simply to survive yet the privileged want to spend your hard earned tax dollar chasing a sounds good/feels good idea at our expense. Why not stop wasteful spending like this and other wasteful ideologically driven programs and lower our extremely high taxes. They won’t because contrary to what they lead you to believe they don’t care. Their agenda is all about special interest with extremely little to no consideration for the average citizen tax payer.
Keep in mind that unless we all vote for principled conservatives the time will come when we will no longer feel at home in our own State..
We live out of state and just sold property in Maine. Family owned for 45+ years. Not interested in retiring they any more. Its become another democrat Ish-hole.