BEDFORD, Ind. (June 12, 2019) — Martin County is the first local government in southern Indiana to take advantage of the new low-interest loan program from Radius Indiana. The county has secured $97,949 to improve local infrastructure.

The Intermediary Relending Program (IRP) from Radius, a program that originated through the United States Department of Agriculture, provides low-cost loans to local governments to make community and economic development capital improvements at costs that are favorable to taxpayers.

Tim Kinder, Executive Director for the Martin County Alliance and a Radius Executive Officer, brought the IRP loan program to the attention of local government leaders.

“We are appreciative that Radius offers this new program to help our local governments,” said Kinder. “It’s another great asset that this region has to offer and I look forward to hearing about how other counties benefit from the IRP.”

The Radius IRP makes loans at 3.5 percent interest rates and has lent the money to Martin County for a 10-year period. Biannual repayments have been scheduled to coincide with the county’s property tax collections to ease the county government’s cash flow.

“Martin County’s investments in the county jail and courthouse roof repairs are necessary improvements that we had to make in response to the deteriorating condition of the buildings,” said Dan Gregory, Martin County Commissioner. “Our county has limited financial capacity to make investments from reserve funds and this loan program is making it possible to get the problem fixed.”

The tax base in Martin County is constrained by state and federal ownership of a high percentage of property in the county, restricting the ability it has to make capital investments.

“The United States Department of Agriculture offers this IRP program to help rural communities across the nation. We found that Indiana has not taken the opportunity to use the IRP in the past while other states have been using it effectively for quite some time,” said Jeff Quyle, Radius President and CEO. “I am hopeful that rural communities in our region will take advantage of the favorable rates to make investments that strengthen their local communities and economies.”

Local governments such as counties, cities, towns, and redevelopment commissions interested in the program should contact the Radius office at (812) 277-9778 for more information.

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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.

BEDFORD, Ind. (May 6, 2019) — Radius Indiana is joining the U.S. Small Business Administration in celebrating National Small Business Week, an annual event to recognize the nation’s top small businesses, entrepreneurs, small business advocates and champions, and Radius is actively taking steps with new programs to assist small businesses and entrepreneurs across its eight-county territory.

This year, May 5-11 is National Small Business Week. As part of the celebration, the U.S. Small Business Administration takes the opportunity to highlight the impact of outstanding entrepreneurs, small business owners, and others from all 50 states and U.S. territories. Every day, they’re working to grow small businesses, create 21st-century jobs, drive innovation, and increase America’s global competitiveness.

More than half of Americans either own or work for a small business, and they create about two out of every three new jobs in the U.S. each year. The Radius region is home to nearly 5,000 small business, making up over 90 percent of the work establishments throughout the eight-county area.

Anthony Christian, Director of Data Analysis and Development at Radius, is a certified business advisor for the Indiana Small Business Development Center. He has been holding entrepreneur/help sessions in the Radius region to offer free help and assistance to entrepreneurs and small business owners who are at any stage of a business development project.

“This is a new initiative for Radius and we are excited to partner with ISBDC to connect and offer assistance to small businesses,” said Christian. “No matter where they may be in their process–from finding an attorney to copyrighting something, to getting connected to a CPA for tax help, we can offer that kind of help. These sessions allow us to work directly with the small business owners that are the big contributors to our regional economy.”

Christian worked with local economic development organizations (LEDOs) to expand the work that ISBDC is offering in the Radius region. Together, the groups organized the help sessions to support entrepreneurs. Dubois County was one of the first counties to recognize the value of bringing the service to their own community’s small businesses.

“The Radius partnership with ISBDC is a very valuable asset for the entrepreneurs in Dubois County,” said Ed Cole, President of Dubois Strong. “The service that Anthony is providing is very important and I look forward to what will come from his sessions.”

As part of the new strategic plan that Radius adopted in the fall of 2018, Support for Small Business and Entrepreneurship has become a top focus of the organization. The SWITCH Study, with collaboration from the Southern Indiana Development Commission,  is intended to help establish a network of entrepreneurial centers in this region and allow the sharing of resources throughout the network. Once completed, this study will bring together the public and private sectors by building an economic development roadmap to strengthen the regional economy, support private capital investment and create jobs throughout the region. The study is expected to be completed this fall.

In addition, Radius will be hosting a pitch competition for high school students and adult entrepreneurs in October. The competition is meant to encourage original thinking with a business-plan focus. More details will be available in the coming months.

The U.S. Small Business Administration makes the American dream of business ownership a reality. As the only go-to resource and voice for small businesses backed by the strength of the federal government, the SBA empowers entrepreneurs and small business owners with the resources and support they need to start, grow or expand their businesses, or recover from a declared disaster. It delivers services through an extensive network of SBA field offices and partnerships with public and private organizations. To learn more, visit www.sba.gov.

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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.

BEDFORD, Ind. (May 3, 2019) — Radius Indiana traveled to Dallas and Chicago last week to meet with site selectors and share the advantages of doing business in the Radius region. This was Radius’s first site selector trip to Dallas in several years and the organization is continuing its outreach program efforts that began in 2016.

Radius Indiana President and CEO Jeff Quyle was joined by a representative from the Indiana Economic Development Corporation in Dallas to help the state agency with its outreach and visited consultants working in logistics, real estate incentives and site location work.

“We are always excited for new opportunities to meet with site selectors,” said Quyle. “Taking these trips outside of the Midwest is important as ever to spread education and awareness about our region, and we get to keep up to date with the trends that site selectors are looking for and make sure our region is following that curve.”

Later in the week, Michael Thissen, Executive Director for Crawford County Economic Development Corporation, represented the Radius Region at the Indiana Power Partnership in Chicago. The event was sponsored by the statewide regional power agencies bringing site selectors together with regional economic development organizations to learn more about site selection trends and gather the latest information on corporate strategies in expansion and location.

The two-day event included 32 attendees, with 17 experts in site selection and business location services, as well as The Indiana Economic Development Corporation and representatives from the German American Chamber of Commerce, The Italian Trade Agency, & The Japanese Exchange Trade Organization (JETRO).

“The event had great impact with a terrific concentration of expertise to build meaningful and honest relationships with those who can help us grow as a region,” said Thissen. “It was helpful for us as economic developers to listen and learn the nuances of site selection and to be better prepared in providing the needed critical information when we answer information requests.”

Radius Indiana will continue its outreach program efforts with more site selector trips in 2019, with sessions scheduled in Cleveland and Atlanta.

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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.

BEDFORD, Ind. (May 2, 2019) — Radius Indiana is continuing its support of its tourism initiative ‘Discover Southern Indiana’ by joining the State of Indiana and the Indiana Office of Tourism Development in celebrating Visit Indiana Week May 5-11.

Visit Indiana Week is an annual celebration of tourism in the state in conjunction with National Tourism Week.  Each day of the week is meant to celebrate a different aspect of tourism:

• State Parks Sunday: Free admission to the 51 DNR properties throughout the state
• Get Moving Monday: Enjoy the great outdoors, from hiking to yoga outside
• Tasty Tuesday: Treat your taste buds at a locally owned restaurant
• Wayback Wednesday: Visit one of the historic sites Indiana is home to
• Thirsty Thursday: Support the hundreds of wineries and breweries Indiana has to offer
• Family Fun Friday: Get the family involved by spending the day at your favorite Indiana spot
• Sweet Saturday: Celebrate the end of the week with your favorite dessert

Indiana State Parks Deputy Director Ginger Murphy sees this week as a great opportunity to remind Hoosiers that state parks are already open and that great things are going on year-round, not just when summer rolls around.

“Visit Indiana Week helps us connect with the communities near our state parks. Those who visit us also visit and spend money in nearby towns and helps guests know what’s available in those communities,” said Murphy. “Through State Park Sunday, when it is free for everyone to visit us, we give those who may not have been to a state park a chance to go for a hike, picnic, nature center visit, bike ride or other outdoor experience for the first time.”

‘Discover Southern Indiana’ invites you to visit their website to see what each county in the region has to offer during Visit Indiana Week.

“Tourism is such an important part of our local economy and we are honored to get to celebrate it for a week,” said Blaine Parker, Radius’ Director of Tourism and Quality of Place. “Our region has so much to offer and ‘Discover Southern Indiana’ allows us to tell our story of what is here in our backyard that we want other people to come enjoy and experience.”

‘Discover Southern Indiana’ is a region-wide tourism driver and 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. To learn more about ‘Discover Southern Indiana’, visit www.discoversouthernindiana.com.

In 2018, Indiana welcomed 80 million visitors, a 1.3 percent increase from 2017, according to the IOTD. The tourism industry is responsible for 5 percent of all Indiana jobs and saves Indiana residents an average of $561 in state and local taxes per household.

According to Rockport Analytics, tourism is one of the leading industries in the Radius region, accounting for $290.4 million in tourism spending and providing 3,930 jobs in 2017. With such a level of economic impact on the region, tourism serves as a large economic driver for jobs and quality of place initiatives.

IOTD aims to foster a spirit of partnership among the Office of Tourism Development, local Convention & Visitors Bureaus, attractions, and Indiana communities through innovative programs and effective initiatives that grow the statewide industry, increase economic impact, and create jobs.

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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.

 

BEDFORD, Ind. (April 26, 2019) — Local businesses and entrepreneurs are asked to fill out a short online survey about the need for services and facilities that can help the local economy grow.

This is part of the next phase of the Southwest Indiana Technology and Collaboration Hub Network or “SWITCH” Network Feasibility Study being conducted by Radius Indiana and the Southern Indiana Development Commission (SIDC).

SWITCH is intended to help establish a network of entrepreneurial centers in this region and allow the sharing of resources throughout the network. Once completed, this study will bring together the public and private sectors by building an economic development roadmap to strengthen the regional economy, support private capital investment and create jobs throughout the region.

The groups have contracted with a team of consultants who are carrying out the SWITCH study, an analysis of our area’s need for co-working spaces, maker spaces, incubators, and programming to support entrepreneurs and small businesses.

As part of the study, they are distributing a survey that can be used by the business and general population to help us better measure the regional need and appetite for a variety of programs and facilities that promote, serve, and strengthen an entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Please take the time to complete this survey so that Radius and SIDC can gain more information about what each county – and the region overall – consider to be our greatest needs:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/SWITCHEntrepDemand

The study is a partnership of 11 different local economic development organizations (Crawford, Daviess, Dubois, Greene, Knox, Lawrence, Martin, Monroe, Orange, Pike and Washington), three regional planning commissions (SIDC, River Hills and IN 15), two regional economic development organizations (Radius Indiana and the Southwest Indiana Development Council), as well as the U.S. Economic Development Administration and the Indiana Economic Development Corporation.

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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.

ABOUT SIDC: The Southern Indiana Development Commission is a voluntary organization of local government serving Daviess, Greene, Knox, Lawrence, and Martin Counties to provide assistance with community and economic development. SIDC utilizes multi-faceted resources, opportunities and skill to strengthen and improve the quality of life in the area.

BEDFORD, Ind. (April 2, 2019) — Radius Indiana concluded its annual economic development course at French Lick Resort last Thursday, wrapping up three days of education, networking and skills building for community leaders from across Southern Indiana.

The Radius Indiana Economic Development for Community Leadership Program is the only course of its kind to be offered in the area. Since the first course in 2017, nearly 100 people representing 25 Indiana counties have gathered to learn from national and regional speakers teaching educational sessions on topics such as real estate development, business attraction, workforce, marketing, business finance and incentives, and entrepreneurship.

“Helping communities grow strong, working groups of local leaders versed in economic development who can affect policies and strategies serves to strengthen our entire region,” said Radius Indiana President and CEO Jeff Quyle. “This program has exceeded my expectations not only in the number of participants, but in how engaged and enthusiastic our leaders are to put their new knowledge to work in their communities.”

Over the past three sessions, the course’s registrants have included mayors, council members, county commissioners, chamber of commerce leaders, tourism directors, economic development professionals, attorneys, utility representatives and congressional staffers.

“I’ve participated in other economic development courses, but the Radius course has been my best experience to date,” said course participant, Jenny Hartley, Economic Development Specialist with the Indiana Municipal Power Agency. “The smaller class size allowed for group activities, better interaction with our speakers, and networking opportunities that I haven’t had at other locations. I truly enjoyed being able to learn about, and apply, economic development lessons that were specific to this southern Indiana region.”

Course speaker, Carol Rogers who is the Deputy Director and Chief Information Officer of the Indiana Business Research Center and serves the Governor’s Census Liaison, has been part of the program each year with her lecture on Local Data Profiles and their importance in economic development.

“What I’ve witnessed over the last three years of this Radius course is a deep engagement from the local officials who want to make a difference. With a diverse group of participants from economic developers to those in public service, everyone is able to see they have a role in strengthening their communities. I enjoy sharing how people can use data, which is available 24-7, to find useful information that allows them to talk about their cities and towns with fresh, current facts—the more we know, the better we are at our jobs,” said Rogers.

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Other sessions and speakers included Introduction to Economic Development with Jim Plump, Jackson County Industrial Development Corporation; Real Estate/Site Development with Chelsey Manns, Manns Consulting; Business Retention and Expansion with Jason Hester, Greater Columbus Economic Development Corporation; Abatement/TIF/Incentives with Matt Eckerle, Baker Tilly; and Entrepreneurship with Steve Bryant, Ivy Tech.

Corporate sponsors and scholarships helped fund the program, including generous support from Title Sponsor, Hoosier Energy, and Program Sponsors, Smithville Fiber, Duke Energy and Krieg DeVault.

Those interested in attending a Radius Indiana course in the future should contact the Radius office at 812-277-9778.

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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.

 

LEAVENWORTH, Ind. (March 15, 2019) – A 96-acre industrial park in Crawford County, Indiana is bidding to expand the Louisville business construction site market to the west along the I-64 corridor.

Indiana Lt. Governor Suzanne Crouch and the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs joined officials from the Crawford County Economic Development Corporation yesterday to announce an Indiana Site Certified Silver designation to the Crawford County Industrial Park. Owned by the Crawford County Redevelopment Commission, the property has all utilities installed and could be used for business services, general/light manufacturing, transportation, distribution and logistics.

This certification is the first for a site in Crawford County, and one of five in the immediate surrounding areas. The 96-acre site is in Leavenworth, and is located adjacent to I-64, a 35-minute drive from Louisville across the untolled Ohio River bridge.

Indiana’s Silver tier of business development site defines boundaries with a clear title, establishes a fixed maximum price, documents utility capacity available at the site, demonstrates executive level local government support, and provides documentation such as Phase I environmental assessment, ALTA, topographical, and property layout.

The Certification process entails a rigorous review of the infrastructure and preparedness of the site which makes it “ready to go”.  If a company should want to locate there, Crawford County Economic Development can accommodate the company faster with the pre-work planning already complete, letting businesses start construction and begin their operations with less time and expense.

Mike Thissen, executive director of Crawford County Economic Development, looks at the certification as a much-needed boost for the county and allows him and his staff to be able to market the park effectively and with purpose.

“It has been a rewarding process to position our community for growth and this certification will assist in becoming an attractive place for business development and expansion,” said Thissen. “We are strategically positioned just 35 minutes away from the Louisville Metro workforce and the UPS Worldport. We are going to be able to leverage our certified shovel-ready park to attract businesses who can capitalize on the region as we are really the Southern Gateway to the heart of Indiana. We are grateful to our State and Regional partners for their support.”

 

BEDFORD, Ind. (March 13, 2019) — After a year-long effort, Radius Indiana has unveiled its new tourism initiative: ‘Discover Southern Indiana’. 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.

Tourists looking to visit the Radius region will soon be able to visit the ‘Discover Southern Indiana’ website, a one-stop shop for all and any resources they may need to plan a trip to the region. From luxurious accommodations to outdoor recreational adventures, the region has vacation activities for people of all ages.

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.

According to Rockport Analytics, tourism is one of the leading industries in the Radius region, accounting for $290.4 million in tourism spending and providing 3,930 jobs in 2017. With such a level of economic impact on the region, tourism serves as a large economic driver for jobs and quality of place initiatives.

Radius Indiana worked with Duane Knapp of BrandStrategy, Inc. to develop The Promise for Southern Indiana, the branding for this initiative. Through visitor surveys, Knapp examined how travelers compared Southern Indiana to several other regions throughout the midwest, as well as how they viewed the Radius region itself. Based on the results, Knapp and the Tourism Strategy Team were able to deliver The Promise:

Delightful discoveries in Southern Indiana

Charming down-home feel, natural explorations, one-of-a-kind resort experiences

Your pleasant surprises await

Radius’ Director of Tourism and Quality of Place Blaine 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.

“Duane did an excellent job leading us through the process,” said Kevin Manley, Dubois County Visitors Center and Tourism Commission Executive Director. “We are very excited about our Brand and Brand Promise and look forward to rolling it out in our region.”

Parker plans to meet with tourism businesses from the Radius counties this spring to hold teaching sessions on how to implement ‘Discover Southern Indiana’ in their marketing efforts, as well as distribute learning guides. Parker hopes to have the new logo unveiled in communities throughout the region by summer 2019.

“This initiative was grassroots driven with the team being heavily involved in every step of the decision-making, from the consultant and the Promise, to the logo and taglines,” said Parker. “It would not have been possible without this team.”

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

 

BEDFORD, Ind. (March 12, 2019) – Radius Indiana released a quarterly update today to its Radius Manufacturing Index (RMI). The new index showed continued growth in the eight-county region, powered by an increase in manufacturing employment in the region to a level of more than 21,000 jobs out of a total regional workforce of over 91,000.

RMI was developed by Radius Indiana and gives the organization an analytic tool that monitors several facets to gauge the strength of the manufacturing industry in the region, and provides cumulative information about 12 data indicators of the manufacturing sector.

This first quarter 2019 RMI update reflects data from first quarter 2018 and shows how the region is performing in comparison to the state of Indiana. The raw number of the RMI is 57.97 for the quarter, which represents the total scores of the 12 factors included in the index. The overall state index saw a score of 57.92.

According to the report, the number of manufacturing establishments, as well as total business establishments in the Radius region, grew during the quarter.  For the region, the average manufacturing wage reflected a higher wage than the previous quarter, rising from $46,051 to $46,370.

The positive portrayal of manufacturing strength in the region corroborated the findings in the 2018 Wage and Benefit Survey of businesses in the Radius region and surrounding counties.  In that survey, a manufacturing-heavy sample of businesses self-reported that 71 percent of companies in a 15-county region expect to add workers in the next year, while only 5 percent anticipate potential layoffs.  

“The RMI allows Radius to continuously see how manufacturing is growing in our region,” said Jeff Quyle, president and CEO of Radius. “Gathering this information for our LEDOs allows us to keep them updated on how our region compares to the state regarding the manufacturing sector.”

The Radius Manufacturing Index uses statistics from publicly available sources to provide an estimate of the state of health of the manufacturing sector in the region. The index is a backward-looking tool that reflects conditions approximately six-12 months in the past, based on the dates for some of the statistics used. Data used for this RMI update was gathered on March 7, 2019, using JobsEQ.

“The Radius Manufacturing Index provides us with a measure of the overall health of our regional economy which relies heavily on our strong manufacturing base,” said Ed Cole, President of Dubois Strong. “Manufacturing plays a huge role in the Dubois County economy.  Just over half our workforce is employed in manufacturing jobs. Out of the nearly 23,000 who are in employed in our county, almost 12,000 are employed in manufacturing.”

For the state, manufacturing jobs decreased as a percentage of total employment, which appears to corroborate the state’s ongoing economic diversification.

PAOLI, Ind. (March 5, 2019) — On Friday, March 1st, Board President Alan Beck welcomed Zachary Brown as the Executive Director of the Orange County Economic Development Partnership.

In his previous position at the French Lick Municipal Airport, Zach learned about Orange County’s assets through interaction with clientele including major businesses and hobbyists, each with a unique perspective of the significance of Orange County. As he strived to increase the positive economic impact and the capacity of the airport, Zach gained keen insight into the logistics that influence Orange County. His six-year tenure at the airport was guided by a strategic property development plan that he and his team created to implement their high capacity vision.

When asked about his vision for himself at the organization, he said: “I’m excited to have the opportunity to develop new business and aid in the expansion of current business in the county.” He followed that up by saying that he is excited to be a catalyst for all of the quality of place initiatives that are in the works.

Zach and his family are steeped in the life and culture of Orange County, which increases his investment in the county. Vice President of the OCEDP Board of Directors and Springs Valley Bank & Trust, Ken Schnaus, resounded these words in his encouraging testament of the OCEDP’s past and present leadership.

“The OCEDP has had several consecutive successful years of expanding and improving the economic environment of Orange County. Our revolving loan fund continues to help new and growing businesses with mezzanine financing. We have been able to help untold numbers of entrepreneurs find resources to help them make very important decisions about their future. We facilitated saving an estimated 120 jobs that were scheduled to leave the County. Just to mention some of the things the Partnership has done to help the County.”

With his background and the personal desire to improve his home County, complemented by a personality that lends itself to leading and assisting everywhere he can, Zach makes the perfect candidate for this leadership role. Ken continued, “Without a doubt, Zach has the ability to move Orange County and the Partnership in a positive direction as it helps all of Orange County strengthen its economic environment.”