BBF Awards Grants for Regional Planning Efforts
Indiana Economic Development Corp. READI Forum hosted in Muncie
Like many Midwestern communities, Muncie and East Central Indiana have been greatly impacted by changing economic forces over the past several decades. From glass manufacturing to the automotive industry, our city and region have long been home to generations of creative, hard-working innovators. We are a city and a region of “makers.” And while changes in the global economy have undoubtedly impacted this area, significant efforts are underway to plan for the region’s bright future.
In cooperation with local economic development organizations, K-12 and higher education institutions, business leaders, elected officials, and others, Ball Brothers Foundation’s grantee East Central Indiana Regional Partnership is helping to coordinate a major regional planning effort focused on talent attraction and retention. The planning effort is designed to identify key opportunities and investments that will: stabilize and grow the population in East Central Indiana and increase economic opportunity for residents, both now and in the future.
Eight counties across East Central Indiana are working together to forge a stronger regional identity and path for the future through this planning effort including: Blackford, Delaware, Fayette, Grant, Henry, Jay, Randolph, and Wayne.
Official planning meetings began in June 2023 with workshops held in each individual county, engaging over 200 individuals in in-depth discussions. Funding from Ball Brothers Foundation—totaling $40,000—was divided between the eight counties to help LEDOs (Local Economic Development Organizations) engage in planning processes.
Trevor Friedeberg, President/CEO of East Central Indiana Regional Partnership, addresses the IDEC READI Forum.
READI 2.0 Regional Workshop hosted at Ball State University
Throughout the summer, planning efforts widened with a broad surveying effort to engage additional residents. Residents were invited to identify the region’s challenges and opportunities, as well as to weigh in on how they feel about life in our community. These surveying efforts have continued throughout the fall with targeted surveys designed to help our region identify critical factors that are impacting young adults’ choices about where they plan to live, work, and raise their families in the years ahead.
Ball Brothers Foundation has also awarded $15,000 in grants to several universities in the region to complement planning efforts. Among the universities sharing in funding are: Ball State University, Indiana Wesleyan University, and Taylor University. These institutions are utilizing funds from Ball Brothers Foundation to gather additional feedback for planning efforts and to pursue collaborations with their surrounding communities to enhance quality of life and place.
When the planning process is completed in early 2024, the region hopes to attract up to $75 million in funding from the state of Indiana’s READI 2.0 program to help bring elements of the new plan to life. Additional funding opportunities include Lilly Endowment’s “College and Community Collaboration” grant opportunity, federal infrastructure funding, and more.
To help ensure that East Central Indiana Regional Partnership can continue to facilitate this planning work—and continue the regional marketing efforts that are at the heart of their work—Ball Brothers Foundation’s board of directors awarded a $100,000 general operations grant to ECIRP in October 2023. Other local foundations, corporations, and utility companies also play a key role in helping to sustain ECIRP’s work.
As a private family foundation with a strong place-based grantmaking focus, Ball Brothers Foundation has been proud to support these planning efforts which will also inform our grantmaking strategies in the years ahead.