The Indiana Economic Development Corp. has announced the grant recipients in the $500 million Regional Economic Acceleration and Development Initiative or READI. Seventeen regions representing all corners of Indiana will each get a slice of $500 million in state-funded regional grants, with $30 million going to the Indiana Uplands region and $15 million to the Indiana First Region in the local area. The Indiana Uplands Region includes Brown, Crawford, Daviess, Dubois, Greene, Lawrence, Martin, Monroe, Orange, Owen, and Washington counties. The Indiana First region represents Harrison, Knox, Perry, Pike, and Spencer counties.
The READI grant program is aimed at improving communities to generate growth and attract business. The proposals were judged based on their economic development potential, their focus on Indiana’s rural communities, the degree of regional collaboration, and their alignment with the state’s economic development priorities. Opportunities for population growth were also taken into account. The grant program also requires each region to provide at least $4 in matching funds for every $1 awarded by the state.
Economic development leaders in each of the regions will now have to decide how the funding is spread out across all the projects in their plans, particularly if they didn’t receive all the money they requested.
But this round of grant funding may be only the beginning. Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb told the Indiana Business Journal that he plans to seek more money for READI from the Legislature in 2023 when the state’s two-year budget is crafted.
Overall, the 17 applications outlined hundreds of projects in urban and rural communities, from mixed-use developments, affordable housing, local downtown renovations and workforce training programs to new parks, trails, sports complexes and concert venues. Grant requests totaled more than $1.5 billion, triple the amount available.
+++
