(Photo provided by the Northwest Indiana Forum)
Governor Eric Holcomb recently announced plans to award $500 million dollars in READI 2.0 funding statewide, including $45 million for northwest Indiana. Led by the Northwest Indiana Forum, those counties are Lake, Porter, LaPorte, Jasper, Newton, Pulaski, and Starke. The governor’s office says now that investment allocations are finalized, the Indiana Economic Development Corporation will coordinate with each area across the state to identify “regionally significant capital and infrastructure projects for investment”. Holcomb launched READI, which stands for Regional Economic Acceleration and Development Initiative, in 2021. The READI 2.0 $500 million allocation will be shared by 15 regions that represent all of Indiana’s 92 counties, the governor’s office said. “This is another huge win for Northwest Indiana. We have spent the last 10 years continuing to drive cooperation and progress throughout the Region.” said Heather Ennis, president and CEO of the Northwest Indiana Forum. The Northwest Indiana Forum says 91 projects have been submitted for consideration by local organizations in the seven-county region. The Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC), which administered the grant, will work alongside the Northwest Indiana Forum to select projects to be funded in May 2024, a news release from the Northwest Indiana Forum said.
