News Release

WARSAW – Kosciusko County’s economic development corporation will team up with similar groups from two other Indiana cities for a state initiative.

Aimed at closing geographic and racial gaps in economic opportunity, the Brookings Institution’s Bass Center for Transformative Placemaking and the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) will work with three Indiana towns — Warsaw, Michigan City and Seymour — over the next year to co-create “community-centered economic inclusion” (CCEI) agendas.

The effort is supported by the Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC), and focused on small cities located in the state of Indiana’s READI program regions.

The lead convening organizations include the Economic Development Corporation of Michigan City; Jackson County Industrial Development Corp (Seymour); and Kosciusko Economic Development Corporation (KEDCO) (Warsaw).

These organizations will be working closely with other stakeholders to co-create and implement the CCEI agendas in each city.

Through this 12-month Learning Lab, Brookings and LISC will offer research, technical assistance, and structured opportunities for the three local teams (“the cohort”) to come together to discuss specific challenges and best practice strategies for advancing community-centered economic inclusion. The individual CCEI agendas created through the Lab will position each Indiana town to effectively engage in the growing sectors of their regional economy to expand local economic opportunity. Importantly, the agendas will also outline strategies to address persistent economic stagnation and inequity by coordinating and concentrating workforce, small business, real estate development, and placemaking efforts.

Following the completion of the Lab, Brookings and LISC will synthesize the learnings from Indiana in a “playbook” for a national audience that highlights how rural and small cities can work with regional leaders and their states to foster greater equity and prosperity.

Through READI, 17 regions across the state that represent all 92 counties are moving forward with projects and programs designed to enhance Indiana’s regions for current and future generations of Hoosiers. Collectively, the state’s $500 million investment is expected to yield an additional $9.86 billion public, private and nonprofit dollars invested in enhancing Indiana’s quality of life, quality of place and quality of opportunity.

“This is an amazing opportunity for smaller communities to become the focus of inclusive economic development in the state,” said Vincent Ash, Vice President of Development at the IEDC. “While well-intentioned, many economic development strategies miss integral needs because they’re developed from the top-down. Sourcing from the community will go a long way toward ensuring greater economic growth and equity in communities that need it. Further, I’m looking forward to sharing these community-centered agendas with a national audience to help position Indiana as a leader in inclusive economic development.”

“We are excited to work with local leaders in Indiana in their efforts to develop strategies for connecting people and businesses in disinvested communities to regional economic opportunity,” said Jennifer S. Vey, Senior Fellow and Director of Brookings’s Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Center for Transformative Placemaking. “We hope the learnings from this work will be helpful to other small cities and rural towns who want to advance equity and economic inclusion through a community-centered approach.”

“Our team at Kosciusko Economic Development Corporation and our partners throughout Warsaw and Kosciusko County are honored to participate in this program, which highlights the potential for new growth strategies in smaller communities,” said KEDCO CEO Alan Tio, “This program will provide a shot in the arm as we work to develop a strategic vision for the “Orthopedics Capital” and build our local capacity to pursue transformative, locally inclusive placemaking.”