Gov. Eric Holcomb announced in his State of the State address last week that Indiana is getting a record-breaking $250 million donation from the Lilly Endowment to bolster the state’s READI program.
The initiative uses grant money to help the state’s cities and towns grow by investing in quality-of-life and quality-of-place programs. Secretary of Commerce David Rosenburg says the money from Lilly will shore up what will eventually be around a billion in investment in READI projects.
“That $1 billion investment by the state is expected to leverage $20 billion to go all statewide, focusing on population growth and quality of life,” Rosenburg said on Inside Indiana Business. “I can tell you no other state is investing $20 billion in those initiatives.”
Rosenburg said the Lilly money will also focus on “transformational projects” that he says will provide job creators with a stable environment to invest in.
“After COVID and a lot the geopolitical uncertainty, there is a lot of capital worldwide looking for that domestic production supply chain that can be stable here in the U.S.,” Rosenburg said.
The investment is also translating into higher salaries for Hoosiers. Rosenburg said Hoosiers are making an average salary of $75,000 for jobs that the Indiana Economic Development Corporation has invested in.
