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What does the state need to do to boost Indiana’s per capita income, which continues to lag the nation’s?
The American Dream is out of reach for too many Hoosiers.
We can’t be a state that promises prosperity—but only for four or five counties. Right now, top-down economic development plans made in Indianapolis mainly benefit big corporations, big projects and big communities.
To build our next 50 years of success, Indiana needs a strategy for all 92 counties.
We can’t mandate this from the Statehouse. Instead, the state should be first at the table as a partner to inspire local leaders and communities to transform themselves.
So, how do we tackle these challenges?
First, we need to rebuild our communities. Our Indiana Main Street Initiative would take 10% of Indiana’s current $1 billion in economic development spending, $100 million annually, and use it to restore main streets and small towns across the state for the 2.7 million Hoosiers who call them home.
Next, we need strong regions. When I ran the Indiana Economic Development Corp. for then-Gov. Mike Pence, we launched the Regional Cities Initiative that brought communities together and delivered unprecedented results across the state.
Continued in various forms since, currently as the READI program, we need a Regional Cities 2.0 that cuts red tape and returns control of projects to the local level, where they belong.
By giving communities freedom to imagine and execute their own visions, we can rebuild main streets that kids and grandkids want to come home to, creating jobs and attracting talent from outside Indiana.
The next piece of the puzzle is our constitutional and moral obligation to provide an education to every Hoosier child.
Like economic opportunity, educational excellence shouldn’t be determined by your ZIP code.
Delivering on that promise starts with continuing Indiana’s leadership in school choice, while increasing accountability and transparency in education so parents can make the best decisions possible for their kids.
At the same time, we have a teacher shortage crisis. Our Teacher Investment Program would attract and retain teaching talent by lowering tax liability for Hoosier educators, putting more money directly back in their pockets.
We should also give more opportunities to Hoosier kids by creating a universal pre-K program and allow high school seniors flexibility to get college credit, work experience, and professional credentials before graduation.
This isn’t an exhaustive list of the challenges Indiana faces or the solutions we could put in place to solve them. On top of education and economic development, we need to keep our taxes low and our business environment friendly, and work to lower increasing health care and energy costs.
I’ve outlined detailed plans for these and other policy proposals on my website. I encourage you to read them at DodenForIndiana.com and share with me your feedback.
At the end of the day, our vision for the state is one where every community has the resources it needs to put the American Dream back in reach for every Hoosier family.
We hope this is a vision you can believe in, and we would be honored to have you join us as we work to make it a reality for the 7 million Hoosiers who call Indiana home.•
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Doden, a Republican, was president of the Indiana Economic Development Corp. under then-Gov. Mike Pence. He is a founding partner of Cumberland Development Co. Send comments on this column to ibjedit@ibj.com.
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