WHAT WE DO, YEAR AFTER YEAR
PCD, Inc Annual Activities
Diann worked with Blue Ox and DED on a Site & Building Development grant for their expansion.
This grant was awarded and will be reimbursed once expenditures including match have been met.
This grant was awarded/spent/and reimbursed in 2022.
In early spring the sale of 26 acres of land from William Benson to Pender Community Development,
Inc. was finalized. This land is south of Whitney Street west of the ball fields. PCD has begun
working with ACES in West Point to get this land platted and have the engineering studies completed.
I (Diann) completed the Lower Elkhorn NRD Recreation Area Development Grant for matching funds
for the toddler equipment for the Village Park. (In 2021 PCD was given a substantial donation for
toddler equipment for the Village Park from a Pender alum.) The LENRD grant was completed and
dropped off at the Village Office for signature and was mailed on March 1, 2022. This grant was
awarded – play equipment is here waiting to be installed by Village Maintenance.
In the fall of 2022 construction began on Roberts Addition on the land west on Whitney and south of
the ball fields. Some of the infrastructure will be completed to allow for townhomes to be built as
soon as 2023.
Diann worked with Andrea at NENEDD on the NIFA application. We have applied for $250,000 as
matching funds for the Rural Workforce Housing Grant offered by DED. All data was compiled and
submitted to NIFA on December 28, 2020. These matching funds if awarded will be leveraged in the
Department of Economic Development Workforce Housing Grant due in late January. This grant was
awarded!
Diann assisted Andrea in the completion of the DED Nebraska Workforce Housing grant application.
It was submitted on January 28th prior to the deadline. Awards will be announced in late April. If
awarded, this grant will be for $600,000 with matching funds coming from NIFA and Pender Community Development, Inc. to establish a $1.2 million revolving loan fund to build work force
houses in Pender. This grant was awarded!
The DTR lighting program is completed, the walk through was completed with the City Engineer on
June 1. Andrea is working with DED to complete the final invoices and reports for the lighting sector
of this grant. Upon completion the additional unspent funds will be allocated to façade
improvements; sidewalks; and/or a pocket park. The pocket park would be east of the Behavioral
Health Building on 4th and Main.
In September, the Leadership Certified City Award was given to the Village of Pender. This is a
significant designation only awarded to 29 communities in Nebraska. The program provides a solid
framework for communities to identify capacity, stimulate focused planning, and utilize technology to
build strong foundations and to meet the challenges of the future.
Northeast Nebraska Development District completed a blight study on another section of Pender.
This redevelopment area number two will allow that area to utilize Tax Increment Financing for new
projects in the Community.
Diann spent a large amount of time in February preparing for and completing Business Retention
and Expansion surveys. We had two representatives from DED and Mandy Hansen from NMPP
come to town to assist. We did 21 business visits with ten of the companies being new to this
process. We also did a tour of Palace Lofts and Uptown Pix. Final reports will be reviewed to
determine areas that need attention in our community.
The Down Town Revitalization grant was awarded for $445,000! Jason did a great story about the
award in the Pender Times. Mandy with NENED is working on the environmental review. Bill and
Holly have signed the contract and returned all data to NENED to move forward with the grant
acceptance.
Ray Welsh, Jason Dolliver, and Diann all participated with the Behavioral / Mental Health Focus
group as Pender representatives. We had our first meeting in mid-January. This went really well
and was well attended. We had a conference call in early February to discuss how each
representative can add to this group. We would like to see more focus put on this occupation at the
secondary level; more scholarships; potential to work with the Foundation; housing assistance for
professionals that locate here, etc. Also as part of this outreach, Pender will be hosting a First Aid for
Mental Health class. The Chamber has agreed to host the event with sponsoring the room at the
Community Center. Frontier Bank will be providing lunch. The class will be held on July 25thhere in
Pender from 8am until 5pm. Registration forms and flyers have been sent to businesses.
**UPDATE** The First Aid for Mental Health Class was held on July 25. We had 9 participants attend
the full day training. The training was very informative and will hopefully assist all of the businesses
that sent employees to be trained.
Diann worked with Michael Francis and Terry Mailloux on a Red Cross safety program. This
program would allow all residents in the Pender / Thurston area to receive free smoke detectors.
The Pender Volunteer Fire Department will be installing these to ensure they are properly installed
with batteries and fully functional. Terry should have received the shipment already; press releases
were sent to the Pender Times and also placed on Face Book. Connie Miller will be compiling the
list of interested residents and will be in communication with the Fire Department for placement.
The annual strategic Planning Meeting was held at the Pender Community Fire Hall meeting room
on February 21, 2017. There were 15 community members in attendance, with the meeting being
facilitated by Mandy Hansen from NMPP. The majority of the time we discussed housing concerns
and issues with housing in the community. Mandy has updated the notes from this meeting and data
was distributed to the Board and all members present.
Pender Community Development, Inc. has been instrumental in bringing together local investors to
build a new 10 bed motel in Pender. Aschoff Construction were the contractors on this facility which
opened its doors on June 26. There is a small amount of landscaping to be completed in the near
future, but the motel is open for business.
ED Coordinator Diann Ballard worked with the Chamber to bring Red Carpet Training to Pender on
September 30th. Red Carpet Training is a Customer Service training targeting retail businesses to
improve tourism throughout the community. We had 24 attendees representing 10 area companies
present for the two trainings that were held at the Fire Hall. These trainings were free to all area
businesses compliments of the Pender Thurston Chamber of Commerce.
PCD Coordinator, Diann Ballard worked with Sonya Kelly to secure the Nebraska Department of
Economic Development Community Facilities grant in the amount of $375,000, to be used for the
new Community Center.
PCD, Inc. was selected for the Nebraska Department of Economic Development Housing grant in
excess of $730,000 to assist in building 5 new apartments in our community. These apartments will
be called “Logan Valley Cottages”.
The Thurston County Board of Supervisors voted at a public meeting on September 16th to pass a
4% Lodging Tax for the County. These dollars will be used for tourism promotion in our county.
PED, Inc. established Pender Community Development, Inc. a non-profit entity to have a primary
focus on housing for our Community. PCD, Inc. was granted their 501c3 status by the IRS in
August.
In collaboration with the Chamber we hosted the Career Fair held in October at Pender Public
Schools; bringing more than 70 applicants to town to fill local vacancies.
A Redevelopment Study was completed to utilize TIF in our Community for the promotion of housing
and business development.
PED facilitated the transfer of the former Hospital to Golden-Rod Hills currently known as NENCAP
– bringing approximately 50 new jobs into our community in early March.
PED, Inc. in collaboration with Pender State Bank and Charter West National Bank hosted a Makin’
Money Camp on June 13 & 14 at Pender Public School. We had 22 children present from towns
including: Pender, Thurston, Emerson, Waterbury, Belden, and Randolph. This was a basic
entrepreneur camp provided at no cost to the children.
CONTACT PENDER COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT, INC.
Contact Amy Volk
Pender Community
Development Coordinator
PO Box 614 • Pender, NE 68047