Client News
Reflecting “great excitement and anticipation,” city and county officials, joined by Denny Spinner, executive director of the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs, officially broke ground on the $3.1 million Commons project in downtown Washington March 23. The event also formally launched the public segment of Our Common Heritage fundraising campaign. German American Bank and TrueScripts sign on as the first major corporate sponsors for event facilities in the Commons.
“The Commons represents a critical project and joint effort that will positively impact the region for this generation and generations to come,” said Mayor David Rhoads. “We expect to see thousands of visitors and residents take part in a broad array of activities that will draw people to Washington, especially as we see continued growth in the coming microelectronics campus in the WestGate@Crane Technology Park.”
“For our city, county, and region to advance in a highly competitive environment, quality of place and quality of life issues must support workforce development and employee retention and attraction,” said Tony Duncheon, President of the Daviess County Council. “The Commons project represents a broad spectrum of positive collaboration and commitment from many partners to help achieve this.”
INDIANAPOLIS – Homeless kids, women in recovery, immigrant families, and more will benefit from recent grants made by the Indianapolis Rotary Foundation. A total of $95,000 in charitable grants have recently been awarded by the Indianapolis Rotary Foundation, reflecting the Rotary Club maxim of “service above self,” according to Jenny Dexter, president of the Rotary Club of Indianapolis.
“The five grants for central Indiana were awarded following a standardized competitive application and review process,” said Dexter. “The Foundation and Club count it a privilege to further serve the greater Indianapolis community through these charitable grants.”
The Indianapolis Rotary Foundation is a private corporation that serves as the community charitable arm of the Rotary Club of Indianapolis. Each year, the Foundation generously donates almost $200,000 annually to projects and organizations in the Central Indiana Area. The Foundation has now opened the process of grant consideration for 2023-24.
PAOLI, Indiana – Southern Indiana Community Health Care will receive $500,000 in new funding in 2023 from the Indiana Department of Health to extend and expand its successful Follow My Heart cardiovascular health program, according to Nancy Radcliff, CEO. The program, which was first rolled out during the COVID-19 pandemic, provides patients with the opportunity to directly engage in lowering blood pressure and improving heart health.
Five former Ascension providers join Southern Indiana Community Health Care to continue serving patients at two new locations in Bedford, Mitchell.
BEDFORD (Indiana) – Responding to community needs, Southern Indiana Community Health Care medical professionals have set plans to open new locations in Bedford and Mitchell (Indiana). The new locations will support obstetrics (OB) and family primary care services in the region, according to Nancy Radcliff, CEO. Primary care and OB patients who will be affected by the announced closing of the Ascension Dunn Hospital in Bedford now have the option to continue medical care locally.
Location addresses will be posted on https://sichc.org.
Joining the Southern Indiana Community group in the new Bedford and Mitchell offices will be Carrie Browne, MD (Bedford); Tricia Spoonmore, Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) (Bedford); Kristi Nissley, FNP (Mitchell); Amanda Bowman, FNP (Bedford); and Lori Day, FNP (Bedford). Other established Southern Indiana Community Health physicians and FNPs will also help staff the new offices.
Details of the new OB services include: Lawrence County providers from the Southern Indiana Community Health Care will offer local prenatal care for pregnant mothers. The women patients will then have the options to continue with a Southern Indiana Community Health Care provider and deliver their baby at the nearby IU Health hospital in Paoli, or they have an option to be transferred to an IU Health Bloomington or a Schneck provider in Seymour (or elsewhere) for delivery there, explained Yolanda Yoder, MD, Chief Medical Officer at Southern Indiana Community Health.
Further expanding an established strategic trend, workforce housing projects totaling more than $37 million have broken ground in the city of Washington (Daviess County) in the past five months, with several other projects also underway.
WASHINGTON (Indiana) – A $12 million housing project featuring townhomes and single-family homes now has homes built and sales in progress in the city of Washington, marking the third major housing project begun in 2022. RJ Community Builders LLC, owned and operated by local Washington natives Ross Wade and Jeff Steimel, are building the $7.3 million 25 single-family-home Buffalo Trace development. Steimel is separately investing $4.7 million for an adjacent 20 townhome project: Villas at Eagle’s Point development.
Both projects are located in east Washington, close to other new developments underway by Kerstiens Development, Simplified Developments and other builders. The new Buffalo Trace and Villas at Eagle’s Point developments on 100 East will “foster significant density of new workforce housing in the city,” said Bryant Niehoff, executive director of the Daviess County Economic Development Corporation. “Having a variety of housing products available at different price points is vital to growing our community.”
(Coverage from this release appeared on several news outlets, including Inside Indiana Business and WTHI-TV lead story)
Want to make a positive billion-dollar impact in Indiana? When one thinks of high-impact economic development, we may naturally think of tech companies or large-scale manufacturing. It may be surprising to know that job-for-job, the meetings and event industry has a history of creating more direct jobs than major companies in manufacturing (automotive, chemicals and food).
Consider this fact: in 2019 (before a certain global event all but temporarily shut down the industry), the Indianapolis region raked in an estimated three-quarters of a billion dollars from 660 events. The projected revenue from 2022 event visitors is now expected to be higher. From national sports events to trade shows to specialty events like Gen Con, Indianapolis (and central Indiana) attracts more than 1.3 million visitors annually. Nationally, Trade Show Executive reported “real triple-digit growth” in the event industry in September 2022.
That all adds up.
Since every dollar invested in events historically generates upwards of a 160 percent return on investment, the event and conventions industry represent a key factor in Indiana economic development and sustainability. A positive personal experience ranks high in creating lasting engagement, which is one of the reasons the Indiana Destination Development Corporation works to bring people physically to Indiana to sample and experience the great attributes of the state. Experiences are directly linked to economic development opportunities.
Greene County development to feature new concept of “Housing that Works,” Smithville to provide high-speed gigabit fiber connectivity and Smart Home” technology for the rural development.
WESTGATE@CRANE Technology Park – Wininger Construction, a third-generation builder from the greater Bloomington area, will preview Westcott, Greene County’s newest paired lifestyle homes neighborhood on Friday, October 21 here. The new development will offer buyers three types of townhome and paired-style home plans. All homes in the Westcott development will have state-of-the-art options for inclusion of Smithville Smart Home technology.
The Westcott development is being built in a shovel-ready certified area in the Greene County section of the WestGate@Crane Technology Park, located near the $2 billion Naval Surface Warfare Center at Crane (NSWC) and the high-tech Battery Innovation Center (BIC).
“We have designed and built many large housing developments in the greater Bloomington area, but the Westcott stands out as a singular venture,” said Tom Wininger, CEO of Wininger Construction. “This development was created and designed to serve the unique professional workforce associated with the technology companies
who service NSWC Crane and the region, and to also be affordable to young people who desire to own a home.”
The new neighborhood development is located with convenient access to highways I-69, 231, and 45 which connects future residents to Bloomington, Bedford, and other population centers in the region.
How would you access the quality of healthcare available in your region? What is your assessment of healthcare providers, ranging from IU Health to U of L Health (Louisville) to local providers? What is the biggest gap in healthcare in your region? Who makes the decisions for your family’s healthcare needs? 
Qualitative and quantitative research
MEK explored these and other questions in a series of focus groups in Orange and Crawford counties in August. MEK client Southern Indiana Community Health Care (SICHC) commissioned the focus groups and additional survey research and interviews. The qualitative and quantitative research measured quality of available healthcare, degree of satisfaction from area healthcare providers and brand equity issues.