Strategic plan aims to spur economic growth in east central Indiana
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The East Central Indiana Regional Partnership (ECIRP) this week launched a new strategic plan it says sets forth a vision for propelling the region’s economic growth.
The plan outlines strategies that will be implemented over the next 2-3 years with the goal of addressing several challenges faced by the region, including population and employment decline, as well as below average earnings.
“This plan is really a pragmatic and prescriptive plan in how we can really push positive change forward for east central Indiana.” ECIRP President and CEO Trever Friedeberg said.
In an interview with Inside INdiana Business, Friedeberg said the region is at an inflection point where improvements can be made.
“Our vision for east central Indiana is really to create a thriving and vibrant region where all residents have the opportunity to succeed,” he said. “This is done by working together leveraging our collective strengths and resources and build a region that’s known for a strong economy, excellent quality of life, and that world renowned Hoosier hospitality, of course. So, our ultimate goal is to really increase population employment and income growth through the region.”
The organization says the region, which covers Blackford, Delaware, Fayette, Grant, Henry, Jay, Randolph, Rush, and Wayne counties, has seen its population decrease by 5,311 over the last five years. The population is projected to continue to decrease by 3,219 over the next five years.
Additionally, the region lost 8,173 jobs over the last five years, but expects to gain 3,209 in the next five. The regional average earnings per job in 2021 was also over $24,000 below the national average of $77,800.
The plan outlines six outcomes for the region to focus on in order to improve its economic health.
The ECIRP aims to increase communication with local elected officials to build a knowledge base related to economic development trends. The organization also aims to identify a more diverse group of public and private investors and partners in order to grow its funding capabilities.
A new brand identity will be created to support key business development messages that will be used in marketing efforts to boost business attraction both in and out of the region.
“We’re going to implement a new strategic lead generation effort and work more closely with our LEDOs to identify some areas if and where the partnership can provide additional resources,” said Friedeberg.
The ECIRP also plans to prioritize enhancing quality of place opportunities. Friedeberg said that will involve leveraging the world already done with funding from the state’s Regional Economic Acceleration and Development Initiative, or READI, and take advantage of the recently approved READI 2.0.
Friedeberg said within each of the six outcomes is a list of tactics to achieve the plan’s goals.
“Some of them are as easy as pulling together a group or a steering committee to start putting a focus effort on these particular items,” he said. “So it’s a plan that we think is very actionable, and we’re really excited to to get cracking on it.”
Collaboration will be key, Friedeberg said, and the partnership aims to foster those efforts as work on the plan gets underway.
“We exist to bring people together, bring resources together and align people make sure everyone’s going in the same direction. If we can do that and keep finding wins and places where we’ve got better alignment, we’ve got people talking to each other, we’ve got that shared resource mentality of regional economic development, we will have made great strides.”
You can connect to the full strategic plan by clicking here.