(INDIANAPOLIS) – Indiana cities and counties are making their case for a slice of a half-billion-dollar redevelopment fund.
This year’s state budget created the Regional Economic Acceleration and Development Initiative, or READI. The grant fund builds on the “Regional Cities Initiative” created under then-Governor Mike Pence to encourage cities and counties to think across county lines.
17 regions have teamed up to compete for 10 available $50 million grants.
Indianapolis and its northern suburbs hope the grant will help them kick-start a long-discussed effort to turn the White River into a magnet for new residents, with a half-billion-dollar development plan ranging from new trails to office and housing developments in communities in the region. Fishers, Carmel, Noblesville, Zionsville, Anderson and McCordsville are joining forces on the project.
Six small rural counties in southeast Indiana argue their location near Cincinnati and northern Kentucky allows them to reap benefits from growth across the state line, without cannibalizing other Indiana communities. “One Dearborn”executive director Mike Perleberg says the READI grant would let the region build the housing and utility lines needed to support that kind of growth, while enhancing historic buildings and natural attractions that could lure people to locate there.
A review board also listened to presentations from the Evansville metro area, an 11-county “Uplands” coalition in south central Indiana, a rural coalition surrounding Decatur County, and a southwestern coalition bordering the Ohio River. The board plans two more days of presentations before issuing recommendations sometime next month.
