NCAA venue reminds that economic development is a team sport

After a dinner at the NCAA Hall of Champions and daylong conference at the Association’s headquarters in Indianapolis, the reminder was clear: Winning at economic development requires a hardworking team bringing a multitude of skills and talents to the game.

And it wasn’t just the venues that recalled that valuable principle, but each session of the Indiana Economic Development Association 2024 Summer Conference as well. It is deeply important to the Hancock Economic Development Council to keep up on all the latest in economic development in order to continue connecting opportunity to economic success in the best way possible, and the IEDA’s latest event provided no shortage of strategies on how to do so.

HEDC officials joined the over 100 other attendees to get to know the IEDA’s new Executive Director, Matt Kavgian. Also on the agenda was a session on the state of Indiana's innovative One Stop to Start initiative, which provides resources for job seekers and job providers, and connects users with Navigators for personalized assistance. This and other resources are listed on the HEDC website’s Business Resources, Employment Resources, and Workforce Resources pages.

Additionally at the conference, Shelbyville leaders provided a walkthrough on how they identified and overcame barriers that were hampering residential development. Hancock County isn’t doing too bad in this area either–read about all the homes coming to the county here.

Contrary to this section of the HEDC’s website, economic development is not always rainbows and groundbreakings. Officials were grateful for a session at the conference covering how to anticipate, prepare for, and respond to reductions in force, closures, projects that fall through, and other less-than-rosy news.

Furthermore, FBI agents gave an enlightening presentation on how to counter malicious foreign influence, and Indiana Economic Development Corporation representatives provided invaluable tips on how to better position oneself for mega projects.

Catch a quick highlight reel of the event: