Jason Kemp knows firsthand how difficult it can be for a veteran to find a job in the civilian workforce. 

After retiring from the Air Force in 2012 and returning to his home state of Iowa, he applied for more than 60 positions without getting any interviews. After a few years working in several jobs outside his field, he contemplated leaving the state to seek better opportunities. 

Now, as project director for Home Base Iowa, Kemp oversees a statewide initiative aimed at attracting veterans to Iowa and retaining them. The nonprofit public-private partnership provides incentives that include a state income tax exemption on military pensions as part of a program that is actively recruiting military members to consider Iowa when they leave the service.   

“What I see HomeBase Iowa doing is connecting dots,” said Kemp, who was hired in October 2015. “At the end of the day, there are a lot of resources and organizations to help veterans. It’s just a matter of connecting those dots and putting that information together in a coherent fashion. I think that’s what Home Base Iowa can do.” 

Home Base Iowa was launched in 2014 after the Iowa Legislature passed the Home Base Iowa Act. In addition to the tax exemption on military pensions, the legislation provided for veteran hiring preference, streamlined occupational licensure, and automatic in-state tuition for veterans, spouses and their dependents. 

The program also offers $5,000 in down-payment assistance to veterans through the Military Homeownership Assistance Program, an incentive that has been offered through the Iowa Finance Authority since 2005. In 2015, the Legislature increased the annual grant allocation for that program to $2.5 million, up from $1.9 million. 

Kemp’s primary focus for the past several months has been developing the Home Base Iowa website, which currently has more than 1,300 participating Iowa companies listed in a searchable database. The website also serves as an information resource and application portal for military members to use. 

The public-private initiative pays Kemp’s salary through the Iowa Economic Development Authority budget. Kemp recently hired a staff member, who is paid out of the Iowa Workforce Development budget. Additionally, a little over $1.1 million for marketing has been pledged over the next five years by Home Base Iowa companies. 

Kemp said he has adopted a regional recruiting strategy, targeting service members at 11 military installations within an eight-hour drive from Central Iowa. He focuses on attending job fairs at those facilities on a regular basis to pitch Iowa’s benefits. 

“Number one, Iowa has a very low unemployment rate and we really have a skills gap for middle- and high-skilled positions — there are more jobs available than people, and that gets people’s attention,” he said. “The other thing is Iowa has wonderful communities. We have over 40 Home Base Iowa communities at this point that add incentives and welcome packages over the state incentives.”  

Additionally, the program has signed on 19 higher education institutions in the state as CHAMP (Certified Higher Academic Military Partner) institutions that work with veterans and their family members to achieve their academic goals, Kemp said. 

The website also connects veterans with nine apprenticeship programs that are actively recruiting. 

“Basically the employer pays the apprentice a full-time wage and the GI Bill pays an hourly stipend on top of that, as well as a cost of living allowance of about $1,500 per month,” Kemp said. “For a veteran who has done two to eight years in the military and gets out and isn’t sure what he or she wants to do, this is an unbelievably fantastic opportunity to make $50,000 a year and get the skills needed to succeed in the workforce.” 

In the initial four months since the HomeBase Iowa website was launched, 30 veterans have been placed through the online application process. 

“As the program manager, I really see success over the next 12 to 24 months as being 300 to 400 people placed through the program that have applied online,” Kemp said.

Iowa’s big employers exceed goal of hiring 2,500 Vets in 4 years
Iowa’s largest employers are also some of Home Base Iowa’s biggest supporters. In January 2014, the Iowa Business Council pledged that its member organizations would fill at least 2,500 positions through Home Base Iowa by the end of 2018. By June of this year, the council — made up of the state’s largest employers, the Iowa Bankers Association and the regents universities — had already topped that goal, said Elliott Smith, executive director of the Iowa Business Council. 

As of June 30, Business Council member companies have hired more than 2,750 veterans or spouses. Several Greater Des Moines-based IBC members, among them Casey’s General Stores, Hy-Vee, Ruan Transportation, UnityPoint Health, Weitz Co. and Wells Fargo, have “each demonstrated extraordinary dedication to targeting and hiring skilled military veterans when executing their employee growth strategies,” Smith said. 

The relatively strong economy has enabled companies to maintain hiring growth in most industry segments over the past two years, Smith noted. “So, all in all, the initiative has proven to be successful for Business Council employers while generating a sustained focus on an important, growing employee prospect group — skilled military veterans,” he said. “I expect that focus to remain strong in the coming years.” 

Home Base Iowa’s goals fit in well with Wells Fargo & Co.’s corporate target of employing 20,000 veterans nationwide by 2020, said Jean Clabaugh, senior vice president of talent acquisition for Wells Fargo. 

Since announcing its own goal in 2014, the company has added 190 veterans to its team in Iowa and more than 2,700 across the country. It currently employs more than 8,300 veterans nationwide. 

Home Base Iowa’s incentives help make Iowa one of Wells Fargo’s top five states in which it’s seeing veteran interest, said Clabaugh, who leads a national team of recruiters. “I think it’s very unique,” she said. “Other states have programs in place, but the presence of HomeBase Iowa seems very strong.”

One veteran’s story: Retired intelligence officer Brian Crozier
For Brian Crozier, a retired Air Force intelligence officer, the financial incentives offered through Home Base Iowa were more helpful than the placement assistance, which he said is more geared toward service members who have served between two and eight years in the military. 

“It’s harder for a guy who’s a retiree with 23 years in and a lot of leadership and management experience to find something; there aren’t as many of those jobs out there,” he said. “And the civilian community doesn’t understand (what an intelligence officer does). They think, ‘I don’t need a spy.’ I didn’t do the spying; I led people who did that.” 
 
Crozier, who is originally from Melcher-Dallas, was recently hired by the Iowa Finance Authority in the newly created position of chief administrative officer. 

Through HomeBase Iowa, he received $5,000 in down-payment assistance toward his purchase of a house in Norwalk, which was sweetened by a $1,000 incentive from Warren County. Most significantly for Crozer, “my pension won’t be taxed by the state,” he said. “That’s huge.” 

The program’s placement assistance works well for service members who have had various types of technical training, Crozier said. As he was out-processing from his last duty station at Offutt Air Force Base near Omaha, for instance, he met a sergeant whose job had been fixing diesel generators and who wanted to return home to Iowa. 

“I said, ‘Dude, have they got jobs for you — check out this (Home Base Iowa) website.’ Before the end of the (transition) class he had two interviews set up.”