What’s in the READI grant proposal?
Hotel, industrial park, speedway among Howard County’s requests for funding
Local leaders have spoken repeatedly about the READI grant and how the money might be used. But what is the grant, and what have those leaders requested?
The Regional Economic Acceleration and Development Initiative (READI) is a program that appropriates $500 million in state tax revenue for investments to catalyze economic development and growth. The initiative is overseen by the Indiana Department of Economic Development (IEDC), and the funding is split among 17 regional partnerships.
Howard County belongs to the North Central Indiana Regional Planning Council, which includes Miami, Fulton, Cass, Tipton, and Clinton counties. The council submitted a grant proposal to the IEDC last year, detailing dozens of projects. Most of the projects were fully developed and ready for investment. Others were stretch goals that were not yet fully planned.
The hope was that the council would receive $50 million in funding. The actual amount was $30 million, which means some of the proposed projects will either be reduced in scale or not funded by the grant. Both Kokomo Mayor Tyler Moore and Howard County Commissioner Paul Wyman have indicated that discussions concerning the allocation of the $30 million should happen within the next month.
As for what Howard County requested in the grant, six major projects directly affect the community either as the sole recipient or the lead recipient of funding. They include: the US 31 industrial park; Kokomo’s downtown hotel and conference center; the Turning Point Drop-In Center for mental health and substance abuse treatment; broadband internet service for areas of the county unserved or underserved by current internet providers; upgrades to the Kokomo Speedway; and the development of a regional cultural center in the former Douglass School building.
Ivy Tech Community College and Indiana University Kokomo also have multiple projects in the proposal. Ivy Tech’s Kokomo campus has three projects on the list, with its Center for Excellence in Advanced Manufacturing, Industry 4.0 Training Lab, and College Completion Pathways. IU-Kokomo’s project is a regional Innovation Hall.
Three other programs with reach through the six-county region include an infill housing fund, a childcare study, and a revolving loan fund. Four of the 12 stretch goals in the grant proposal also impact Howard County, including a regional trades center, connecting the Cloverleaf Trail west to Clinton County, redevelopment along Ind. 931, and revitalization of the General Motors wafer fabrication facility.
Over the next several days, the Kokomo Lantern will examine these proposals to get a clear idea of how funding them will impact the community. Because the hotel and conference center and US 31 industrial park projects already have been covered by this publication, they will not be included in this series.