The Northwest Indiana Forum's annual Ignite the Region luncheon will have a special guest: Gov. Eric Holcomb.
The annual event will meet from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Oct. 24 at the Blue Chip Casino, 777 Blue Chip Drive, in Michigan City.
Ignite the Region is a long-term strategy to strengthen Northwest Indiana’s economy. The Forum and community partners have been working on how to implement and achieve the plan’s goals since 2018.
The strategic economic development plan includes the seven-county Region of Lake, Porter, La Porte, Newton, Jasper, Pulaski and Starke counties.
The plan provides a set of goals, strategies and actions to promote economic diversification and collaboration by increasing the Region's talent base, infrastructure, entrepreneurship and places.
Implementation teams focus on five pillars, including business development and marketing, entrepreneurship and innovation, talent, placemaking and infrastructure.
The Forum led the efforts to gain $50 million in Regional Economic Acceleration and Development Initiative grant funding. A team of business leaders chose 34 projects to share the funding. The projects selected have resulted in $700 million in matching spending in Northwest Indiana. Nine of those projects selected recently were approved to move forward. A second round of funding already has been approved by the state.
Become a sponsor for the luncheon or buy an individual ticket here.
