IEDC ‘On Track' to Close Out 1st Edition of Community Grants

INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana Economic Development Corp. leaders say the state’s $1 billion economic development grant program is right on schedule, including two initiatives tackling blight and benefiting the arts.

The first round of the Regional Economic Acceleration and Development Initiative is “coming to a close this year,” said Jim Rawlinson, IEDC’s vice president of regional development, during a Wednesday board committee meeting.

READI 1.0, begun in 2021, is funding 421 projects around the state with federal pandemic relief money. Of those, 281 are beginning to close out, according to the IEDC slide deck.

All $500 million has been obligated, with $487 million going to projects, and $430 million of that disbursed.

“We’ve topped over 90(%), which is exciting,” Rawlinson said. “… We are on track for all of our projects to disburse before year’s end, as required by (the American Rescue Plan Act).”

READI 2.0, begun in 2023, is also coming along. The second round of funding came from the state’s flush post-pandemic coffers.

About 154 of 399 projects are fully approved, with about $55 million in funding disbursed. Another $391 million has been obligated. IEDC has roughly $97 million left to assign.

The Lilly Endowment — launched by descendants of Eli Lilly & Co.’s founder — contributed additional funding for blight and art help.

The organization offered up $185 million to projects redeveloping vacant and blighted properties into productive community assets.

Of that, $151 million has been awarded across 46 projects, according to IEDC slides. The quasi-public agency plans to have all funding obligated before the end of the year.

Another $65 million will advance arts and culture projects that strengthen workforce development, local identity and quality of life.

“Arts and culture are part of the civic infrastructure of places,” Miah Michaelsen, the executive director of the Indiana Arts Commission, told the committee. “They help create … places where talent wants to come, where employers want to start businesses; they help diversify economies, local economies in particular. They also help celebrate local heritage and treasure traditions and communities.”

Hoosier communities submitted 319 applications with a whopping $416 million in funding requests and worth $1.4 billion in total.

Michaelsen said an international panel of 23 experts had scored the applications and passed them back to IEDC for decisions.

Award notifications are expected to go out July 1, according to Rawlinson, with work to begin soon after.