The Pella Area Community and Economic (PACE) Alliance held its quarterly meeting Friday morning.

Executive Director Karen Eischen shared some results of the recent community survey, as well as some of the accomplishments of the organization over the past nine months. In the survey, Pella residents shared that they are interested in more outdoor activities and entertainment, as well as more diverse dining and shopping experiences. A dog park and a brewery were seen as high priorities for the community. Eischen also shared that in the past nine months, 14 new businesses have come to Pella, with four more pending. New housing projects are also underway.

Diane Finnerty with the University of Iowa and the Central Midwest Higher Education Recruitment Consortium (HERC) shared insights on how businesses can recruit and retain diverse candidates, as well as meet the needs of dual-income families.

Finnerty was brought in by the PACE Alliance because the group wanted to highlight the issues local businesses and industries are having finding employees with near-record low unemployment numbers in the county.