Goshen News, Goshen, IN

Breaking News

Business

January 23, 2010

Group working on NE Indiana economic growth plan

FORT WAYNE — A group of northeastern Indiana business, education and government leaders hope to develop a plan for turning around the area's economic stagnation.

The new Regional Visioning Coordinating Group will use $150,000 in grants to put together over the next six months an economic growth plan and what steps should be taken to realize it.

The organizers say such action is needed because figures from the Community Research Institute at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne show that the region's average worker makes 78 percent of the national average wage, down from 95 percent in 1994.

"This is the most disturbing statistic to me," said Mike Packnett, president and CEO of Parkview Health and a co-chairman of the planning group.

The Northeast Indiana Foundation already sponsors initiatives for the area's defense, food-service and medical-device industries. The foundation is also sponsoring the new group, but its executive director, Mark Becker, said the efforts aren't redundant.

"There are a lot of things going on in these (industry) organizations, but we aren't aligned in the effort," Becker said.

Similarly, all 10 counties included in the group's study area around Fort Wayne have their own economic development organizations.

But until recently, many considered themselves to be in competition with one another, said John Sampson, president and CEO of the Northeast Indiana Regional Partnership, an organization that aims to attract businesses to the region.

"Four years ago, it was almost frightful," Sampson said. "But we know there isn't a community here that can succeed without the others."

The study group plans to conduct surveys throughout the region and have public meetings in Adams, Allen, DeKalb, Huntington, LaGrange, Noble, Steuben, Wabash, Wells and Whitley counties.

Text Only
Business
Parade
Magazine

Click HERE to read all your Parade favorites including Hollywood Wire, Celebrity interviews and photo galleries, Food recipes and cooking tips, Games and lots more.
Community Calendar
Loading…
Events by eviesays.com
AP Video
Jimmy Carter Endorses Egypt's Election Results Biden Addresses West Point Graduating Class Dozens of Children Killed in New Syria Attack Raw Video: Activists Allege Massacre in Syria NJ Man Charged With Murder in Death of Patz Support, Fun for Kids of Fallen Soldiers at Camp Fugitive Penguin Caught, Returned to Aquarium 50 Years Later, Underground Fire Still Burning Light Show Transforms Sydney Opera House Raw Video: Unruly Passenger Restrained in Miami Raw Video: Robber Uses Drive-thru Window Raw Video: Dragon Arrives at Space Station Calif.'s Coronado Named Nation's Best Beach CEO Salaries Become Sore Issue in Labor Disputes Raw Video: Fight Erupts in Ukrainian Parliament Texan Ranchers Remain Wary of Drought Raw Video: Soldiers Plant Flags at Arlington Police: Man Arrested in Etan Patz Disappearance NYC Protests: the Revolution Will Be Scripted Chicago U.S. Attorney Fitzgerald Resigns
Poll

Indiana is now the only state in the union that prohibits carry-out alcohol sales on Sunday. What do you think about Indiana’s current law?

It’s time to make the sale of carry-out alcohol legal on Sundays.
The state should continue to prohibit Sunday carry-out alcohol sales.
I really don’t care one way or the other.
     View Results