Dubuque, Iowa, has no trouble attracting students to its three colleges, but like many other small cities and towns, it has a much harder time keeping the students there after they graduate.
American Trust and Savings Bank is hoping to change that, while earning the appreciation of its business customers, with an internship program aimed at enticing graduates to stay in Dubuque. The $612 million-asset unit of Amtrust Inc. has anted up $36,000 for the program, launched last week in conjunction with the city's three colleges and the Dubuque Area Chamber of Commerce.
This fall six juniors - two each from Clarke College, Loras College, and the University of Dubuque - will get a two-year internship at participating businesses. Each student will receive two loans totaling $6,000 to help cover their tuition. The loans will be forgiven if they work for at least one year at any local business after they graduate.
Nicholas Schrup, American Trust's president and chief executive officer, said the program is designed to stem the mass exodus of students out of the town of 57,000 once they graduate and head for the bright lights of bigger cities to start their careers.
"We want to let students know that they don't have to go to Chicago or the Twin Cities to find jobs - there are opportunities in their fields right here," Mr. Schrup said.
Dubuque is not nearly as bad off as many other Great Plains cities and towns, which have been steadily losing population as factories have closed and the number of family-owned farms has dwindled. Once driven by manufacturing, Dubuque's economy is more diverse now, and its location on the bank of the Mississippi River offers its residents a good quality of life, he said.
Still, there's a "dire need" for highly qualified professionals, like there is in many small communities throughout the country, Mr. Schrup said. Dubuque is fortunate in that its colleges attract many young people to study there, and the bank and the chamber are hoping to capitalize on that initial attraction with its internship program, he said.
Carol Townsend, the chamber's chairman, is also the president of Sedona Staffing Services. She says she knows firsthand the challenges businesses face in finding qualified employees.
Dubuque used to have two main employers: a John Deere tractor factory and a meat packing plant. However, the city now has a much more diverse, more sophisticated economic base - which includes software companies, insurance companies and several call centers - and it is often tough for employers to find enough qualified people to work at those businesses, she said.
"A lot of our companies need employees with some pretty specific skills, and these internships can help students gain those skills," Ms. Townsend said.
The bank and the chamber admit that their efforts will be but a drop in the bucket at first, because only six students will get loans. To make a bigger impact, the bank and the chamber are hoping to recruit additional businesses to support the program, so more students can get internships.
Bankers are often selected to head or advise economic development boards whose main function is to attract businesses and jobs to their communities.
But Richard A. Soukup, a partner with the Chicago accounting and consulting firm Grant Thornton LLP, said he has never heard of a bank financing internships for other local businesses. He also said the program could really benefit American Trust.
"It's the best kind of marketing there is, as it will be hyped, not by the bank, but by the local press and within the community," Mr. Soukup said. Businesses that can hire college graduates may also be very appreciative of the bank's help, and that appreciation may translate into more commercial business for American Trust, he said.
Ms. Townsend said the program is particularly geared toward students who grew up in the Dubuque area.
"Students who were born and raised here have a tendency to leave the community and go to where they perceive are greener pastures," she said. "But then years later, after they get married and start raising their own families, Dubuque - with its low crime rate and good schools - looks pretty good to them. This internship could help them skip the hard part by never going away in the first place."
