Dant Chesser: River Ridge And Workforce Continue to be Big

(Image courtesy of One Southern Indiana)

Listen to this story

Subscriber Benefit

As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe Now

This audio file is brought to you by

0:00

0:00

Loading audio file, please wait.

Speed
1.00

• 0.25
• 0.50
• 0.75
• 1.00
• 1.25
• 1.50
• 1.75
• 2.00

The chief executive officer of One Southern Indiana says industrial growth at the River Ridge Commerce Center is triggering retail and commercial growth around the 6,000-acre park. Wendy Dant Chesser adds that leaders in communities like Jeffersonville, New Albany, Clarksville and Charlestown are taking steps to assess and improve quality-of-place in their respective downtowns. They are examining housing, walkability and shopping factors. "We started to see some changes in what is being offered in 2017," she said, "and I think that as we go through the next couple of years, we’ll start to see some of those changes come to fruition, as well."

In an interview with Inside INdiana Business focusing on the 2017 and looking forward to 2018, Dant Chesser said challenges in the new year include collaborations to address workforce issues. "We are rethinking the workforce pipeline and the talent pipeline in the the way that it has been developed over the years, because the needs today aren’t being met," she said. "There’s a lot of shifting going on in the way people are addressing the workforce challenges and I think that will continue in 2018." A lot of the focus to improve, Dant Chesser added, is coming from — and will have to continue to come from — educators and employers.