Author: Radius Indiana

Radius Indiana and South Central Indiana Small Business Development Center Leading Effort to Help Small Businesses in the Region

Posted on by Radius Indiana

BEDFORD, Ind. (May 12, 2020) — Radius Indiana, in partnership with the South Central Indiana Small Business Development Center and Ivy Tech’s Gayle & Bill Cook Center for Entrepreneurship, are hosting a series of webinars to help Indiana small business owners navigate through the masses of resources being offered in response to COVID-19.

The newest webinar, Social Media: Mic Check-1-2-3… Wait is This Thing On?, is scheduled for Wednesday, May 13 via Zoom. This session will provide strategies for engaging content and provide resources and tools to understanding how to get the most out of your social media strategy. To learn more or to register, follow this link or visit the South Central ISBDC home page.

The Radius region is home to 6,180 small businesses, accounting for nearly 82 percent of all businesses within its eight counties. Small businesses employ 35,148 workers, totaling 40 percent of the regions’ jobs. 

Radius Indiana and the South Central ISBDC share a common goal of supporting small businesses and regularly partner on efforts to coordinate resources and educational programs in the region.

“Small businesses fuel economic growth. Through this strategic partnership, we look to bolster South Central Indiana’s drive to support and grow entrepreneurship across the region,” said Radius Indiana Vice President of Talent Attraction and Retention Keeley Stingel. “Despite the current challenges, small businesses continue seeking ways to adapt to meet their customers’ needs. We hope by offering the webinar series, businesses have the resources they need, delivered in a way that makes the most sense to them.”

The first webinar, which was presented earlier this spring, focused on helping employers understand financial statements for small businesses, as it can be hard to understand why a banker is asking, and what they’re looking for. The workshop explained the three main financial statements, the ratios banks use to determine loan terms, and the most common mistakes small businesses make when looking for a loan. It aimed to help employers grow confidence when talking to a banker about their business.

A second webinar was an E-Commerce Crash Course to help employers quickly transition to online sales and generate revenue. This webinar helped small business owners brainstorm ways to alter their business model to continue to generate revenue even during COVID-19 limitations. 

“Small businesses are facing unprecedented challenges due to the COVID-19 situation. Many small business owners have never had to consider E-Commerce as a significant part of their business strategy and it is sometimes complex and confusing for businesses to know what to do and where to find information. The E-Commerce series is one way we are working together with community partners to help small business owners learn some simple strategies and tools to use to get on-line to sell their products and services,” said Steve Bryant, Executive Director of the Ivy Tech Gayle & Bill Cook Center for Entrepreneurship and Regional Director, South Central Indiana Small Business Development Center.

The past webinars can be viewed at the Cook Center for Entrepreneurship YouTube Channel.

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ABOUT RADIUS INDIANA: Radius Indiana is a regional economic development partnership representing eight counties in Southern Indiana: Crawford, Daviess, Dubois, Greene, Lawrence, Martin, Orange, and Washington. Formed in 2009, Radius Indiana also serves as a point of contact in Indiana for Naval Support Activity Crane and leads regional collaboration by leveraging the diverse assets of Southwest Central Indiana to drive attraction, retention and expansion of business, thereby increasing employment and investment opportunities and quality of life within the region. (www.radiusindiana.com)

ABOUT ISBDC: The Indiana Small Business Development Center (Indiana SBDC) was created to have a positive and measurable impact on the formation, growth, and sustainability of small businesses in Indiana, and to help Hoosier Entrepreneurs start stronger, grow faster, and work smarter. (www.isbdc.org)

ABOUT THE GAYLE AND BILL COOK CENTER FOR ENTREPRENEURSHIP: The Gayle & Bill Cook Center for Entrepreneurship at Ivy Tech Community College Bloomington provides practical tools to help entrepreneurs of south central Indiana start and grow businesses. Founded in 2010 to honor one of the regions’ most successful entrepreneurs, Bill Cook, the Cook Center embodies Mr. Cook’s philosophy of ‘ready, fire, aim’ entrepreneurship by giving students and others the skills and resources they need to start businesses.  (www.ivytech.edu/bloomington/entrepreneurship/)

Discover Southern Indiana, NOW!

Posted on by Radius Indiana

Regional tourism website features hundreds of attractions across eight counties.

 

BEDFORD, Ind. (May 6, 2020) — As the state begins to re-open, Discover Southern Indiana has immediate opportunities for those ready for a change of scenery, while keeping in mind social distancing as we navigate travel and recreation in this post COVID-19 environment.

DiscoverSouthernIndiana.com is up and running to welcome travelers from all over to the Radius region. The region-wide tourism drive is the first of its kind for the area and gives an identity to the opportunities the Radius region has to offer to its visitors.

Natural explorations allow families the opportunity to get outside of the house while still maintaining distance from others. While this is not a complete list of activities, it is meant to serve as a starting guide and more options can be viewed at DiscoverSouthernIndiana.com. We encourage travelers to check with specific attractions for hours/updates before heading out to visit any location.

“Often, when families think about vacation, they think about traveling outside of the state, and we have so much to discover in southern Indiana. The beauty alone of the rolling hills and landscape is enough, but then add on top of that two phenomenal four-star resorts, spas, casino, water park, lakes, state parks, unique lodging, a ranch where you can have hands-on experiences with elephants and giraffes, see bears, sloths, lemurs, not to mention the natural explorations or our trails, woods, and caves. Not all are open at this time, but the closed attractions will re-open as conditions allow,” said Radius Indiana’s Director of Tourism and Quality of Place Blaine Parker.

The website serves as a one-stop-shop for all and any resources that tourists may need to plan a trip to the Radius region. With sections dedicated to food and drinks, events, shopping, sports, art and culture, heritage, and outdoor recreation, the site features a vacation planning tool that allows tourists to plan a trip and offers suggestions on a mileage-based radius to help plan a manageable trip.

Creating Discover Southern Indiana was a regional, collaborative development process. Unifying the tourism initiative across the region allows community leaders and tourism businesses to cost-share practices to more effectively implement the branding because multiple counties are likely to be visited by a single visitor. The communities recognize the need to work together to invite travelers to the Radius region, which includes Crawford, Daviess, Dubois, Greene, Lawrence, Martin, Orange and Washington Counties.

Parker led a team of 10 committee members to create a unified tourism effort for the Radius region. The committee is made up of members of the region’s eight counties, the French Lick Resort, and the Indiana Department of Natural Resources. The Tourism Strategy Team met throughout 2018 to bring the idea of a region-wide joint tourism venture to life. 

The plan continued into 2019 by working with Blueline out of Bloomington to capture photography and videography from each county. Blueline also designed the new site.

In addition to the new website. Discover Southern Indiana has also launched profiles on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram to grow a following. The accounts will get behind the scenes looks at attractions across the region to entice tourists to visit the region.  

“Southern Indiana is where you can go to have that once in a lifetime experience without ever crossing the state lines. With everything that’s going on in the world right now, personally, I have been looking at what there is to do close to home, where can I go with my family where I know I can be safe and still have fun, and Discover Southern Indiana has those options,” said Parker.

To learn more about ‘Discover Southern Indiana’, visit www.discoversouthernindiana.com.

Economic Development is More Important Than Ever

Posted on by Radius Indiana

Column from the Indiana Economic Development Association

Indiana launched into 2020 with the unemployment rate in many communities hovering at near-record‐
level lows of 2 – 3%. A major concern in many communities was the lack of workers to fill current jobs.
In response, economic developers shifted from attracting businesses to attracting workers.

It is impossible to calculate how drastic the change has been in four short months. Economists project
that unemployment rates will hit double‐digit levels, perhaps approaching rates not seen since the Great
Depression. Over 26M American jobs have been lost effectively canceling all job gains since the Great
Recession. Local stakeholders fear that much of the progress they have made in the last few years to
grow local business, enhance downtown development, and increase the tax base will be threatened as
revenues from various taxing sources will see shortfalls.

In flush times and lean, the practice of economic development is focused on attracting, expanding, and
retaining investment in communities. Prior to the coronavirus crisis, economic developers were
diversifying their services by working with local businesses to help fill open jobs with qualified workers,
collaborating with chambers of commerce and tourism bureaus to promote community assets to attract
new residents and workers to their communities, and working to support local entrepreneurs in starting
and growing their businesses. The evolution of economic development extended to downtown
development because vibrant downtowns are key to attracting and retaining talent.

Fostering single‐family and multi‐family housing stock became a priority for talent attraction. This effort
to develop workforce housing led to community‐wide collaborations between economic developers,
elected officials, and housing developers, who came together to solve unique housing challenges in
communities across the state. Many economic developers have focused on expanding childcare
solutions, as well: high quality and affordable childcare contribute to our quality of life and workforce
engagement.

The work of economic developers is constantly evolving because they are reacting to the unique needs
of their communities. What works in one region or county may not work in another, so our connections
across the state allow for sharing best practices and the ability to bring new ideas back to our
communities that are tailored to local and regional needs.

As we emerge from the current crisis, communities will be faced with many displaced workers and
closed or struggling businesses. Local economic development organizations will be the natural leaders
helping our state recover because they know the local businesses, understand their workforce needs,
and are experts in attracting and retaining tax base: all critical activities in helping communities claw
back from the coronavirus crisis.

At last count at least 21 Indiana‐based economic development organizations have played a role in the
creation of local disaster relief loan or grant programs to help local small businesses survive during the
stay‐at‐home order. This is another example of their understanding of local business needs and their
ability to adjust their priorities to respond to the needs of their communities.

In the last few years, economic developers have become more focused on supporting entrepreneurship,
encouraging the creation and growth of home‐grown businesses, exactly the kind of support and
expertise that will be needed to revitalize our downtowns post‐coronavirus crisis.

Economic development professionals have developed national networks of business contacts that they
work with when companies want to expand or relocate. These networks can help bring suppliers to a
community to support existing companies. While supporting our existing businesses will be the first
priority, the attraction of new companies to the state will be an area of focus as we move to fully
recover lost jobs and tax base.

As we look toward the future of Indiana, we should all find comfort in knowing that economic
developers are on the front lines and are ready to evolve again to move their communities out of crisis
and into recovery.

Lee Lewellen
President/CEO
Indiana Economic Development Association

“Pitch-In” Defines our Regional Collaboration and Communities

Posted on by Radius Indiana
From: Jeff Quyle, Radius Indiana President & CEO

Did you know that the Dictionary of American Regional English says that southern Indiana has the best pitch-in dinners of any part of the country east of the Rocky Mountains?

Now, in truth, the dictionary brags on our region only in a round-about way. The book actually says that most of the country used the phrase ‘potluck’ to describe a meal where various folks come together with all or most of them bringing some food they intend to share. But Southern Indiana (and parts of Montana) call these meals ‘pitch-ins’. So when you look for the best pitch-ins in the eastern US, you have to look in Southern Indiana.

I think using the phrase pitch-in instead of potluck really reveals something about the character of our southern Indiana culture and communities. To ‘pitch-in’ implies that a person is thoughtfully making an effort to bring something of value, to add their own efforts. In contrast, ‘pot-luck’ sounds like a person is just bringing any old thing that happens to be available — ‘pot-luck’ is more of a take-it-or-leave-it mentality.

Here in southern Indiana, people do have a pitch-in mentality. Whole communities of residents are interested in supporting each other in thoughtful ways. Especially this Spring, as we’re learning the meaning of pandemic and social distancing, Hoosiers in the Radius region and other parts of southern Indiana are pitching-in to support and help one another. The collective heart of the culture here is not about giving potluck; it’s about making an effort to offer value.

In the economic development field, communities and their leaders in the Radius region have also shown a tendency to want to pitch-in to support economic development. Our community leaders recognize that a successful economic development efforts doesn’t rely on just one person or one office carrying the load. We know that success in economic development means that elected officials, property owners, infrastructure providers, educators, and others must work together.

There are many successful examples of communities putting together teams of leaders who each pitch-in their expertise and abilities to help the businesses in the region. That means helping existing businesses as well as working to recruit and settle new businesses. While a city or town may install the sewer line, a utility will provide the broadband, while an accountant will help set up needed account systems, a banker will establish lines of credit, and the local school system will enroll student interns. It’s not potluck – it’s an intentional pitch-in.

Radius is supporting the southern Indiana pitch-in culture by helping our local leaders learn more about what role they can offer. We now hold an annual leadership training program that gives direction, information, and model solutions to community leaders so that they understand what their community needs to succeed in economic development.

When we hold our fourth economic development training program later this year, we will surpass one hundred attendees. That will be one hundred leaders in southern Indiana who will be a little better prepared to practice the southern Indiana tradition of pitching-in.

Radius Indiana Visits Chicago for First Site Selector Trip of 2020

Posted on by Radius Indiana

BEDFORD, Ind. (March 16, 2020) — Radius Indiana economic development leaders took information and insights about their southern Indiana region north for a trip to Chicago to meet with site selectors. The session is the first of 2020 and part of Radius’s continued outreach program to raise awareness about the business strengths and opportunities in the eight-county region.

Radius Indiana President and CEO Jeff Quyle was joined by Zach Brown of Orange County,  Shance Sizemore of Lawrence County, and a team from Accelerate West Central Indiana Economic Development. The group met with six sets of site selectors and conversations focused on workforce attraction, development, training, retention activities, and promoting economic development throughout Indiana.

“I didn’t realize the diversity of companies located in Southern Indiana. Our clients are often looking to locate around similar types of industries. The fact that Southern Indiana has large manufacturing, food processing, and nutraceutical companies is exciting for our clients who serve these industries,” said senior manager at RSM, Debbie Singer. 

This is the fourth year Radius Indiana continues its outreach program efforts, with more site selector trips throughout 2020. The organization’s second international trip to Japan will take place this October, and is an opportunity to bring foreign direct investment to the Radius region.

“It’s very rewarding to see how relationships keep building after site selector trips,” said Quyle. “The more that site selectors are able to learn about our region, the better. Collaboration and partnerships lead to success so we are always wanting to grow.”

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ABOUT RADIUS INDIANA: Radius Indiana is a regional economic development partnership representing eight counties in Southern Indiana: Crawford, Daviess, Dubois, Greene, Lawrence, Martin, Orange, and Washington. Formed in 2009, Radius Indiana also serves as a point of contact in Indiana for Naval Support Activity Crane and leads regional collaboration by leveraging the diverse assets of Southwest Central Indiana to drive attraction, retention and expansion of business, thereby increasing employment and investment opportunities and quality of life within the region.

 

Artisan Electronics, Inc. receives 5 nominations at 2019 IndianaIntern.net Impact Awards

Posted on by Radius Indiana

From: Artisan Electronics

Carmel, IN, February 18th, 2020

Artisan Electronics, it’s employees, and interns were honored to receive nominations at the 14th Annual IndianaIntern.net Impact Awards.  These nominations include: 2019 Employer of the Year, 2019 Intern of the Year – Andrea Fernandez, 2019 Supervisor of the Year – Larry Eaker, Kory Reagan, & Heath Murray.

The Annual IMPACT Awards Luncheon is a celebration of internship excellence. Indiana INTERN.net honors nominees and winners in the categories of Intern of the Year, Employer of the Year, Internship Supervisor of the Year and Career Development Professional of the Year. The nominations are submitted by the public and winners are chosen by a group of impartial judges.

In an interview with Inside INdiana Business Host Gerry Dick, Executive Director Mike Slocum said the program’s growth has been crucial for workforce development.

“It’s important because internships are no longer something we do as a favor to the boss because their niece or nephew needs an internship in the summer,” said Slocum. “This is a legitimate talent development and attraction opportunity. So for our students, they’re learning valuable skills to stand out above their peers and our employers, they’re cutting the line and they’re able to connect with students before they graduate.”

Greg Sapp, Artisan Electronics Vice President had this to say about the nominations. “Internship opportunities have been such a successful part of Artisan’s talent attraction and development program. Since beginning our internship program in 2017, Artisan has hosted 20 interns and have hired 7 interns on as full-time employees.  We plan on hosting 7 more interns in the summer of 2020 and we could not do it without the great work from our management team. We are all extremely thankful and humbled by these great nominations and we are looking forward to continued success in partnership with IndianaIntern.net”

For more information about the IMPACT Awards or to learn about how IndianaIntern.net could help you start your own internship program visit their website  https://www.indianaintern.net

(Photo from left to right: Garrett Shephard, 2019 Intern now FT employee. Andrea Fernandez, 2019 Intern – Nominated for Intern of the year. Kory Reagan, Engineering Manager – Nominated for Supervisor of the Year. Heath Murray, IT/Cybersecurity Manager- Nominated for Supervisor of the Year. Larry Eaker, Technical Manager – Nominated for Supervisor of the Year. Janae Graber – 2019 Intern now FT employee. Greg Sapp, Vice President. Courtney Uland, Human Resources)