When the county and Greenwood chambers merged last year, its first job was to find holes in the county’s industries and workforce and come up with ways to address those issues countywide.
Aspire Economic Development and Chamber Alliance of Johnson County unveiled a five-year plan with five extensive goals to boost Johnson County’s economic sustainability and combat potential pandemic-related shortfalls.
The chamber announced Wednesday its plan to help the county continue to grow in the next five years, despite economic setbacks this year, including closed businesses, historic unemployment and delayed developments.
Unemployment in Johnson County hit 13.5% in April, when many businesses were forced to close temporarily due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. It bouncing back to 3.7% by October. And Cummins’ expansion into Greenwood, touted as one of the city’s biggest economic endeavors to date, was delayed indefinitely.
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title="Story continues below gallery" ]
Click here to purchase photos from this galleryA number of the tactics in the lengthy plan include working with local governments on incentives to bring in new industries, boosting infrastructure and partnering with education institutions to develop the workforce.
Aspire plans to address a variety of issues in the coming years, including an aging workforce, consideration of incentives for new and existing businesses and infrastructure needs.
The plan calls for 50% advanced manufacturing job growth in the county and a 15% wage increase.
Aspire began working on the strategic plan last November with a goal of releasing it earlier this year, said Christian Maslowski, Aspire’s president and CEO. Then the pandemic hit. The plan was put on pause and reevaluated, but the team realized their goals could also be used to pull the county out of an economic recession, he said.
“We realized the plan was just as relevant to climbing out of the short-term economic crisis as it was to the long-term economic sustainability and growth we set out to achieve,” Maslowski said.
The five overarching goals outlined in the plan are driving innovation to boost company development, searching for sites for new industries, community collaboration, pursuing enhanced quality of life and educational partnerships, and those goals remained relevant and essential to helping the local economy recoup long after the pandemic runs its course.
“These are things we have to be doing anyway and always,” Maslowski said. “These strategies are needed to get us out of this just as they are needed to launch us to the next level.”
One highlight of the plan is boosting business and industry development. To help with this, the chamber created a rubric that they have shared with local governments to help elected officials weigh incentives and become more selective in choosing companies that would be best for the community.
More common in recent years, cities and towns have offered millions in incentives through tax abatements, particularly for speculative warehouse buildings without a tenant attached. Greenwood approved tax breaks for three speculative buildings this year, and Whiteland approved breaks for five buildings just this month.
“The manufacturing and industrial base in Johnson County is stronger than one might realize,” Maslowski said.
Having a diverse industry and developing a strong workforce is what will help the county in times of economic turmoil, Maslowski said.
“What we need to do is to continue to diversify the industry and the economic base in Johnson County to mitigate future economic storms,” Maslowski said. “I think Johnson County is positioned to recover better than other parts of the state and other parts of the country.”
To develop a strong workforce, Aspire is set to seek more educational partnerships. The chamber wants to develop more partnerships with local colleges, such as Central Nine Career Center, Franklin College and Ivy Tech Community College, to help young people develop 21st century skills, and encourage more people to work in STEM fields.
That means doubling down on growing the pool of talent right here in the county, Maslowski said. There are three parts to doing this, including what he called “homegrown” talent from K-14 education, redeveloping skills in the county’s current workforce and attracting new talent.
“We need to work on closing the gap between what businesses need and what we’re producing,” Maslowski said.
