Coming home

Former Nebraskans seeking to flee homeward from less civilized, more expensive or less tidy places to opportunities in their home state have a new resource in a Web site developed by an Omaha recruiting company: MoveBacktoNebraska.com

Loup City native Mitch Arnold, in exile for years in D.C. and North Carolina, now president of Preferred Partners, put it together.

Arnold believes that MoveBacktoNebraska.com can help the state reverse “brain drain.”

“Nebraska is the 10th most heavily outmigrated state for young, single, college-educated professionals, and a lot of those people come from highly skilled technical backgrounds,” said Arnold.

He’s building up the database, and said he has well over 100 profiles of expatriates who are interested and an email list of 200 people interested in opportunities in Nebraska.

“We’re getting about 55 unique visitors a day,” he said. “Finding former Nebraskans significantly narrows who our audience is.

“We’ve had some who are interviewing. I’m looking for that success story right now.”

The Web site also lists Nebraska towns looking for businesses.

David City is recruiting a clothing store, farm supply store, restaurant or bakery. It also displays businesses for sale, like a veterinary clinic in Hebron for $165,000.

Perhaps the site will help reverse the traffic depicted on the Nebraska commemorative quarter.

-- Richard Piersol, Lincoln Journal-Star, 4/15/06