MUNCIE — It is difficult to describe any day a local nonprofit receives $15 million as a bad day, but clearly the East Central Indiana Regional Partnership was shooting for a lot more when the Indiana Economic Development Corp. announced who would get what in its distribution of READI grants last month.
The READI grant program is the Gov. Eric Holcomb administration's competitive offering of money to regions of the state to improve quality of life and attract and retain talent in the state. The state had half a billion dollars to bestow on 17 regions. The eight-county East Central partnership garnered $15 million for its efforts, while some other regions won $50 million or $30 million amounts to be matched with private and other dollars. Smaller regions also received $15 million and a single-county entrant was awarded $5 million.
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Traci Lutton, vice president of the Muncie-Delaware County Economic Development Alliance, said a meeting will take place in coming weeks with state officials to determine why the partnership received the amount it did and how best to use the $15 million provided.
When all the matches of money committed by other sources are complete, Lutton said the $15 million will actually mean the partnership will have $75 million to invest. The plan that was presented called for about $375 million in investment.
Michael Hicks, director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at Ball State University, is familiar with the partnership's submission and other proposals across the state.