Rosenberg: ‘The regions stepped their game up’ for READI 2.0
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Indiana Secretary of Commerce David Rosenberg says competition among the 15 regions that applied for funding through the second round of the Regional Economic Acceleration and Development Initiative, or READI 2.0, was fierce.
The Indiana Economic Development Corp. board approved the $500 million in funding, and six of the regions received the highest allocation of $45 million.
“Every region really stepped up their game, took the coaching and what they learned from READI 1.0, implemented it in READI 2.0, and it was a very, very tough decision, but we’re very happy with the awards,” said Rosenberg.
Rosenberg told Inside INdiana Business the increased collaboration among the regions is going to be the lasting legacy of READI.
“Regions who never communicated or worked together before are now coming together,” he said. “And they see the benefit of working together not only for ready funds, but leveraging it for federal dollars or business development pursuits to retain and attract companies or to get talent. I think READI 2.0 proved and showed that those those cities, those towns, those areas coming together and looking at regionalism different will benefit them for several decades.”
While $45 million was the most some of the regions received, the maximum potential allotment was raised from $50 million in the first iteration of READI to $75 million this time around.
Rosenberg reiterated that the competition among the regions was the reason that no one region received the maximum amount of funding.
“We saw movement back to the middle because that competition was so fierce,” he said. “We tried it, and put it out there, and regions thought boldly and transformational, but again, that competition really, really pulled the the differences between the regions in READI 1.0 much closer to READI 2.0, which is great, and we want to see that competition continue.”
The Southwest region, led by the Southwest Indiana Regional Development Authority, was one of the six to receive a $45 million grant. Patrick Hickey, newly named economic development director for the Evansville Regional Economic Partnership, told IIB the award adds to momentum the region is already seeing.
The next step in the READI process is for the IEDC to engage with each region to identify projects that would benefit from funding. Hickey said they’re already working toward that goal.
“We’ve been collecting projects that are out there that could be potential fits that READI [funding] could go toward, so we’ll take a deeper dive on those projects,” he said. “The RDA has the final say on what projects will be awarded.”
The Central Indiana region also received one of the $45 million grants, which was a big increase over the previous award. Three separate regions from READI 1.0 consolidated into the new Central Indiana Regional Development Authority, which Rosenberg said impressed the review committee.
“You saw I think, 26 or more cities and towns come together to be part of that overall RDA, and I think that really regional approach resonated with the review committee,” he said. “And obviously they hit a lot of the KPIs with population growth and innovation, but then that dedication to being to the true regionalism really showed in READI 2.0, and that’s why they took a big step up this round.”
Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness, chair of the CIRDA board, told our partners at the IBJ that they were hoping to receive a full $75 million allotment, but they will continue to put forth consequential and unique projects.
“Everyone has their top priority, so what we’re going to have to do as a group, is … to come together and identify those priorities. “There’s two missions here: we want to make the dollars effective toward these goals, but, two, we want to sustain regional relationships. This is central Indiana, so we want that to sustain past this.”
Rosenberg said the IEDC has already set up meetings with each region, though there is no set timeline for when projects will be announced for funding.