Regional Economic Advancement and Development Initiative (READI) Proposals
South Bend - Elkhart Regional Partnership, Greater Lafayette Commerce & City of Noblesville
Economic Strategy
In 2020, Indiana launched the Regional Economic Acceleration and Development Initiative (READI), allocating $500 million to defined economic regions for economic recovery, growth, and resilience.
Through this initiative, the state encouraged neighboring counties, cities, and towns to partner and create a shared vision for their future. This included mapping programs and projects critical for retaining talent today and attracting the workforce of tomorrow by developing a regional development plan.
Fourth Economy supported three of 17 regions in developing regional development plans: South Bend-Elkhart, White River (Central Indiana), and Greater Lafayette.
Our Approach
Each region was tasked with engaging stakeholders to design strategies enhancing quality of place, life, and opportunity to attract and retain top talent. The planning process required complex stakeholder relationships, incorporation of priorities from multiple municipalities, economic analyses, and best practice identification to design compelling investment portfolios.
Fourth Economy ensured robust stakeholder participation, cultivated strong community engagement, and gained community buy-in. Economic analysis informed strategic investment frameworks. An open call solicited community ideas for programmatic or physical investments benefiting from READI funds. .
The Results
The engagement, economic analyses, research, and facilitated strategy development resulted in three winning proposals and action plans for regional economic recovery, growth, and resilience. In total, the regions we supported secured $100M in state funding. South Bend-Elkhart secured the maximum $50 million for their “Smart, Connected Communities 2030” plan.
Location
South Bend-Elkhart, White River, Greater Lafayette, IN