Editorial: New efforts to attract veterans, young workers are important

On today’s front page, reporter Peter Blanchard has a story about the Indiana Destination Development Corp., a state agency that nearly four years ago replaced the state’s tourism department.

But the IDDC is doing more than simply trying to persuade people to visit Indiana Dunes National Park or go mountain bike riding in Brown County.

The agency is spending a good amount of its time and resources on persuading people to move to Indiana or to stay in Indiana once they’ve come for college or internships.

IDDC CEO Elaine Bedel said the organization’s goal is to give people “an experience that will set … in their mind that they can live here, take a job here and start their family here.”

That, Blanchard writes, could help build the state’s workforce to fill existing jobs and ones that will be created in the future.

That’s important. The state’s unemployment rate is already below the national average and, even as the economy has cooled, companies say they can’t find enough workers.

Among its programs are ones that focus on attracting just-out-of-the-military veterans to Indiana and helping interns working in the state see why it’s a good place to stay.

We certainly applaud the agency’s efforts—as long as they don’t totally distract from tourism as well.

But we fear the IDDC could be facing a bit of an uphill battle when it comes to attracting young people to live in Indiana, especially while the Legislature is in session.

Nearly every day, the headlines out of the Statehouse focus on social issues that are divisive and debates that could give people outside Indiana the impression that they are not welcome in the state. We don’t believe that is true.

But since the debacle that was the Religious Freedom Restoration Act in 2015, Indiana must work harder to overcome a reputation that its views are backward. The national outcry against that law was so intense that the Legislature had to roll it back, but some wounds remain from the fight.

The social issues at play at the Legislature today—including debates about how to care for transgender children, what books to include in school libraries and how to teach race in schools—raise legitimate questions that do not have easy answers. That’s why the conversations must be conducted with compassion and empathy—by people on all sides of the issues.

Of course, not all of the proposals that have been offered or debated at the Legislature will become law. In fact, it’s likely few of them will.

And certainly, there are plenty of conservative states—think Tennessee, Florida and Texas—where people are flocking, despite similar legislation. But Indiana has some experience in this area with RFRA, a fiasco not worth repeating.

Our hope is that lawmakers will keep this in mind as they also ponder how they are going to attract new workers, fill the state’s talent gap and land more high-paying jobs.

The IDDC’s new programs are good efforts that deserve more attention and funding.•

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