Awarded $35 million

The region more than doubled its award in the second round of a state grant program.

Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb announced Thursday morning that the East Central Region, which includes Jay County, was awarded $35 million through the second round of Indiana Regional Acceleration and Development Initiative.

It’s an increase from the $15 million awarded to the region during the first round of READI in 2021.

“Yay, we did great.” said Tabby Sprunger, executive director of Jay County Chamber of Commerce. “We’re in the top of the giving amounts. I think we did really good as a region.”

“Pretty cool, $35 million,” said Jay County Development Corporation executive director Travis Richards following the announcement. “I’m very pleased. We had a ton of people from across the region put in a lot of work in READI 2.0. It’s very exciting to be in the second tier of the awards … I’m glad the state has chosen to award us that much.”

Sprunger and Richards are the county’s representatives on the steering committee for the East Central Region, which also includes Randolph, Blackford, Delaware, Grant, Henry, Wayne and Fayette counties.

The funding for the East Central region is the second-highest amount awarded statewide, trailing the $45 million that went to the Central Indiana, Northeast, Northwest, Our Southern Indiana, South Bend-Elkhart and Southwest regions.

Other regions awarded $35 million were Greater Lafayette and North Central.

"I am incredibly proud of the work that was put in across the region to make this award a reality,” said East Central Indiana Regional Partnership president and CEO Trevor Freideberg in a press release. “With this award we will accelerate growth in our region that will have an impact for years to come.”

Regional awards ranged from $45 million to $10 million, with a total of $500 million distributed amongst 15 regions that represent all of the state’s 92 counties. (The maximum possible for a region to receive through READI 2.0 was $75 million.) They were approved Thursday morning by the Indiana Economic Development Corporation board of directors.

“Indiana is leading the way in future-focused investments in our economy and in our communities, ensuring that all Hoosiers of today and tomorrow have the opportunity to prosper,” said Holcomb. “READI has already resulted in more than $12.6 billion invested in quality of place and quality of life assets. The second iteration of the initiative – READI 2.0 – along with additional committed investments from the Lilly Endowment, will bring billions more to Hoosier neighborhoods, preparing communities, industry and talent for the next generation and beyond.”

The next step in the READI 2.0 process is for the Indiana Economic Development Corporation to meet with representatives from each region “to identify regionally significant capital and infrastructure projects for investment.” Regions will also consider projects focused on blight reduction, redevelopment and arts and culture initiatives for potential funding through a $250 million grant from the Lilly Endowment that is to be distributed alongside the READI 2.0 funding.

Richards said he expects those meetings to begin in mid-May.

No timeline or specific process has been announced for selecting projects for funding.

The READI 2.0 funding comes on a 3-1-1 match basis, with 60% from the private sector, 20% from local government and 20% from the state program. (The match is considered on a regional basis rather than project-by-project.)

The East Central Indiana Regional Partnership led the planning process for the READI 2.0 application, including workshops in each county, regional workshops and two public surveys. The region set a focus on quality of life, housing and infrastructure, childcare and support for families, and education and opportunity.

About 170 projects were submitted in the region, with a scoring process used to determine those that would be highlighted in the application that was submitted to the state in February.

At the state level, projects were reviewed by an external committee and evaluated on factors including economic development potential, alignment with the state’s priorities, such as population growth, per capita income growth, growth in employment opportunities, educational attainment, housing units developed, childcare capacity and innovation activities as well as the level of focus on rural communities and the degree of regional collaboration. Those factors were utilized to help determine funding awards for each region.

From the $15 million the East Central Region was awarded in READI 1.0, projects in Jay County that received funding through READI 1.0 were the Salamonia Schoolhouse and Jay County Early Learning Center.