Carol Johnson, Southern Indiana Business Report
BEDFORD – Broadband expansion, mental health and improving the lives of disabled Hoosiers were among topics discussed when Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch met with a group of southern Indiana women working in economic and community development.
Crouch spoke to about 20 members of Radius Indiana’s Women in Economic Development at Bubba’s Pizza in downtown Bedford Wednesday and said the issues of fiber connectivity for rural Hoosiers and the rise in anxiety and depression among young people are issues she’s working to improve at the state level.
Suicide is the second-leading cause of death among young people, she said.
“One in seven high school boys and one in four girls have contemplated suicide,” she added.
Her family’s experience with mental illness – her brother was an alcoholic, her mother suffered from depression and her sister took her own life – have driven her to advocate for better access to services.
Crouch is a Republican candidate for governor in the 2024 election and has been in public service for 30 years. She previously served in the Indiana Statehouse and served Vanderburgh County as auditor and a commissioner.
Wearing her signature red-framed glasses and a red dress, Crouch greeted the group following an introduction by her friend and former lieutenant governor Becky Skillman.
“I’m energized by being in a room full of women who are making a difference,” Crouch said.
Crouch also shared personal insights about being a woman in a state leadership role and what led her to a life in public service. She said she has faced gender discrimination and those who doubted her abilities because she was a woman.
“One of the things I’ve learned as a woman in leadership is I’m not going to let someone’s opinion define what I’m capable of,” she said. “As women, we have to prove ourselves worthy more than men do. We can’t allow others’ opinions to define what we do and who we are.”
A life in politics was not her plan growing up in Evansville. She worked in real estate and owned a small business before running for office.
“I didn’t grow up in a political home but I was raised with values that led me to public service,” she said. “I was raised with a strong sense of personal responsibility and to help others less fortunate.”
Other experiences also led her to public service. It was a job working as a nurse’s aide in a long-term care facility while in high school that taught her to treat all people with dignity and respect.
Chelsey Manns of Manns Consulting and coordinator of the group, said it’s important for women in local leadership to hear from a woman in state leadership.
“As women in leadership roles throughout southwest Indiana, it was wonderful to hear from Lieutenant Governor Crouch on her own path to leadership and the multitude of roles she’s fulfilled in public service from both the local to state levels,” Manns said. “Her insights on topics such as mental health and early childhood education are impactful to the current and future workforce for all Hoosier communities.”
Crouch is one of four GOP candidates in the governor’s race. The others are Sen. Mike Braun, Eric Doden, former president of the Indiana Economic Development Corp. and Curtis Hill, former Indiana attorney general. Democrat candidates are Jennifer McCormick, former Indiana Superintendent of Public Instruction and Bob Kern.
She said she’s running for governor because she wants to “lead Hoosiers and deliver results” by growing the economy and re-imagining government to deliver services more effectively.
As lieutenant governor, she oversees the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs and is the state’s Secretary of Agriculture. Indiana is unique in that 90% of residents live either in a metropolitan area or within 45 minutes of a metro area, meaning residents can live anywhere and still be close to amenities. She said the state’s investment in READI funds to help communities fund quality of place projects are building Indiana into a state where people want to live, and not just in the counties around Indiana.
With the state’s investment of $249 million to expand broadband, and the state’s low cost of living, she said she sees a bright future for rural Indiana.
“Rural Indiana is our next great economic opportunity in Indiana,” she said.
