State launches $1.9 million program to entice veterans to move to Wisconsin after service

Wisconsin officials have announced a national $1.9 million marketing campaign to attract veterans who are transitioning into civilian life.

It’s part of the state’s new $6.8 million marketing effort to attract talent by encouraging millennials and college graduates from other states to move here.

Several agencies are collaborating with the end goal of getting vets and their spouses jobs within six months of leaving the military.

Wisconsin Veterans Affairs Secretary Dan Zimmerman says part of the $1.9 million funding will be used to equip businesses with the tools necessary to make sure a veteran can be successful.

“There’s being veteran friendly and veteran ready,” Zimmerman said. “There’s a distinction between those two.

“Everybody’s veteran friendly. Veteran ready means that you have to be ready to take on the veteran and all the good and maybe there’s some bad.”

Zimmerman says they’ll be heading out to a military base in California this week to begin the sales pitch.

The state’s unemployment rate among veterans is 1%, which Zimmerman says is because of a high number of businesses who want the talent of vets.