Cedar Rapids-area worker recruitment campaign meets new resident goal

The Gazette offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced.

CEDAR RAPIDS — After “overwhelming” interest in the program, the Cedar Rapids Metro Economic Alliance has concluded its remote worker recruitment campaign two months early.

The organization this week signed its 15th mover in the program, through which income-qualified remote workers received a cash incentive and other benefits to relocate to Cedar Rapids, Hiawatha or Marion.

The pilot program aimed to increase resident recruitment as part of the larger Collaborative Growth Initiative, a public-private partnership around supporting population growth in the greater Cedar Rapids area.

Jodi Schafer, director of talent attraction at the Economic Alliance, said more than 300 people expressed inte