(COLUMBUS, Ind.) – Indiana expects to finish handing out a half-billion dollars in regional development funding by the end of the year.
The Indiana Economic Development Corporation has awarded $200 million since legislators created the Regional Economic Acceleration and Development Initiative (READI) a year ago. The grant fund carves up Indiana into 17 regions, each of which will eventually get some of the money.
So far, the grants have helped pay for projects including a new hotel and conference center in Kokomo and a performing arts center in Gas City. In Columbus, the city has been working with Columbus Regional Health for four years on an $80 million project to convert an abandoned mall into a sports and health complex. The READI contribution is just six-million on top of that, but Columbus community development executive director Mary Ferdon says the state money will accelerate some long-range goals which had been expected to stay on the back burner for five-to-10 years. Ferdon says those items, including a teaching kitchen, a child care network, and a park-and-trail addition were among the proposals community members were most enthusiastic about.
Indiana Commerce Secretary Brad Chambers says the focus on local community development is unmatched by any other state. He says the READI fund is a critical economic development tool, creating communities where people will be interested in living.
Chambers estimates the economic impact of the grants will be 20 times what the state is spending on them.
