By Miles Flynn | Southern Indiana Business Report
INDIANAPOLIS — The submission deadline for the Regional Economic Acceleration and Development Initiative has been extended an additional 30 days. Gov. Eric J. Holcomb announced Aug. 2 that regions now must have their plan proposals in on or before Sept. 30.
As reported in the Southern Indiana Business Report in June, the Regional Economic Acceleration and Development Initiative is making $500 million in state funds available through the Indiana Economic Development Corporation to help local communities work together on retaining today’s talent and attracting tomorrow’s workforce. Regional grants could be for as much as $50 million. The program targets geographic regions, thereby encouraging cooperation among multiple counties. General guidelines are for projects focusing on quality of life and quality of place, innovations and entrepreneurship efforts, or talent attraction and development initiatives.
In the Indiana Uplands region, Regional Opportunity Initiatives and Radius Indiana are heading up a collaboration of Brown, Crawford, Daviess, Dubois, Greene, Lawrence, Martin, Monroe, Orange, Owen and Washington counties to pursue a share of the funding. While the state has extended its deadline for submissions, ROI’s cutoff of July 30 will remain in place due to the sheer volume of submissions received.
“The Indiana Uplands stepped up in a big way with 270 thoughtful and transformative project and program submissions that have potential to strengthen our region’s quality of place and ability to attract population over the next decade,” said ROI President and CEO Tina Peterson. “We are grateful to Secretary [Brad] Chambers and to the IEDC for the additional time to complete the planning process. The Indiana Uplands steering committee will utilize this time to evaluate and follow up with organizations and communities that submitted proposals to gather additional data and information. While the timeline for READI is ambitious, communities and organizations have openly embraced this process as a welcome opportunity to build upon the incredible momentum we have achieved as a region over the last five years. Ours is a region of visionaries, artisans, entrepreneurs and trailblazers. We look forward to working together to craft a compelling plan for making the Indiana Uplands a peak destination for innovation, education and opportunities that elevate the quality of life for all.”
Proposals submitted to the state will be reviewed throughout October and November, and first round investment decisions will be made and announced in December. More information, including answers to frequently asked questions and a map of all the identified regions, is available at IndianaREADI.com.