State leaders approved plans Tuesday to award $500 million to support regional development plans across 17 regions representing all 92 counties. This competitive process considered applications for the Indiana Regional Economic Acceleration and Development Initiative (READI). The total requests tripled the allocated $500 million READI budget as submissions from the 17 regions amounted to more than $1.5 billion in demand and detailed nearly 800 projects and programs with a potential investment of $15.2 billion.
After reviewing the proposals and their respective requests, the award amounts aligned well with the regions that are poised to maximize the state’s return on investment. Specifically, those regions that demonstrated “shovel ready” quality of place projects and programs that will transform their region, attract talent and improve the quality of life in the short and long term.
That said, the timeline to draft and submit READI proposals was tight – due largely to the program’s source of funds coming from federal COVID relief dollars – which benefited regions that had preconceived projects and programs already in their economic development pipeline.
Five regions demonstrated they were ready for READI and received $50 million: Northeast Indiana RDA, Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority (RDA), Our Southern Indiana RDA, South Bend-Elkhart Indiana RDA and Southwest Indiana RDA. They promise to leverage their combined $250 million in READI funds into $2.44 billion in additional funding. By comparison, another 12 READI recipients, that received between $5-$30 million, intend to leverage their combined $250 million into $2.42 billion in additional funding.
Read the state’s press release for a complete list of the specific awards.
Resource: Adam Berry at (317) 264-6892 or email: aberry@indianachamber.com
