Southwest Indiana leaders, Talent EVV working on 2030 Strategic Plan
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Talent EVV, a talent attraction strategy that’s part of the Evansville Regional Economic Partnership, or E-REP, is working on a refreshed strategic plan for the next five years.
Talent EVV covers Vanderburgh, Warrick, Posey and Gibson counties in Indiana, as well as Henderson County, Kentucky. The team began working with community stakeholders last year to gather perspective and information.
“We really have nine different indicators that we track around population, jobs and wage growth, educational attainment, poverty and health outcomes,” Talent EVV Executive Director Tyler Stock told Inside INdiana Business. “We’re really looking at how do we engage content experts and practitioners in a meaningful conversation about what is it that’s happening on the ground…[and] starting to build a dialog of continuity.”
The Talent EVV 2030 Strategic Refresh will leverage existing practices, initiatives and expertise to drive scale and impact across the region. There’s also a focus on telling the region’s story, including strengths and opportunities for growth.
“We’ve really thought strategically about how we want the Evansville region to look and grow and feel 5, 10, 15 years from now,” Stock said. “[We’re] just really excited about what this alignment can potentially mean for the region moving forward…I would say the buzz around the region right now is that there’s so much great work happening in the focus areas of talent.”
The final Talent EVV 2030 Strategic Plan is scheduled to launch in October.
This week, Talent EVV also released its second annual report, which showed Warrick County had the highest population growth.
“If you think about our region being kind of this biological ecosystem, Warrick County has an immense opportunity to really cultivate and grow within that ecosystem, because of its size [and] because of its strategic investments,” Stock said. “Warrick County, as it relates to its geographic size, is bigger than Vanderburgh County, so it’s just got more space for new housing starts and housing developments.”
Talent EVV says last year, 25 households (62 people) moved to the Evansville region through MakeMyMove, an online relocation marketplace that connects remote workers to new communities. On its website, MakeMyMove says incentives for moving to Evansville include $6,000 cash and a two-year coworking membership. E-REP wants to bring 50 families to the region in 2025.
The report features data and stories related to four areas:
- Population growth
- Thriving workforce
- Live well
- Upward mobility
“I think the theme of all of this is, how are we cultivating and creating really awesome quality of life and quality of place in the Evansville region, so that our current residents really see it as a place that they can grow and build a family and thrive, but also that we’re attracting new residents … into a place that they feel really connected and have the opportunity to flourish as well,” Stock said.
RELATED: Study shows $1B impact of Evansville health and life sciences sector
The report also highlights the partnership between the University of Evansville and Toyota Indiana. UE is the coordinating partner for Toyota’s Driving Possibilities initiative, which aims to prepare students in southwest Indiana for future STEM careers.
The initiative is benefiting K-12 students at schools in the North Gibson School Corp. and the Evansville Vanderburgh School Corp., and UE President Christopher Pietruszkiewicz said the goal is to support both students and teachers.
A new Indiana Next Generation Manufacturing Competitiveness, or IN-MaC, Design and Innovation Training Studio is scheduled to open this spring. The UE studio will be the third one of its kind in Indiana.
You can view the full 2024 Talent EVV Annual Report here.