Wabash Heartland Taps Into Public Input
(Image of the Manufacturing Advisory Council courtesy of the Wabash Heartland Innovation Network.)
Subscriber Benefit
As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowParks and trail improvement, workforce development and high-speed internet access are among the top priorities of thousands of respondents to a Wabash Heartland Innovation Network regional placemaking survey. The results will help determine how to use a $10 million Regional Cultivation Fund in the 10-county region in north central Indiana.
The fund, created through a Lilly Endowment Inc. Grant in late 2017, aims to boost quality of life in the region.
About 2,500 people living and working in the Wabash Heartland Region took the survey. The region includes Benton, Carroll, Cass, Clinton, Fountain, Montgomery, Pulaski, Tippecanoe, Warren and White counties. The survey covered three areas: vitality, education and connectivity.
In education, the organization says 53 percent of respondents said aligning education to workforce needs is their top priority. In community assets, parks and trails ranked highest. For connectivity, 52 percent of those taking the survey said boosting high-speed internet access is the most-needed improvement. You can see the full report by clicking here.
One of the ultimate goals of the WHIN is to help north central Indiana become a global epicenter for ag innovation and tech-fueled advanced manufacturing.