Thrive West Central Launches ‘Resilient’ Plan

Economic development leaders in the greater Terre Haute and Vigo County region have developed a new regional planning initiative they say will help the region be better prepared for an economic crisis, like a global pandemic. Thrive West Central has unveiled the economic recovery plan called Resilient.

The organization says Resilient aims to combat regional challenges that were caused or exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Thrive West Central says the plan has a specific focus on issues pertaining to population decline, lagging economic growth, and an aging population.

“We hope to have weathered the worst of the pandemic,” stated Ryan Keller, executive director of Thrive West Central. “Resilient identifies gaps in our systems, and this is our opportunity to prepare for future economic crises by reinforcing our strengths and seizing opportunities in workforce development, healthcare, quality of life, and education.”

Keller says the organization spent the past 18 months developing the plan through community conversations, regional surveys and data collection and analysis to establish priorities.

Thrive West Central says as part of the process, it looked to identify the most pressing resiliency-related challenges and opportunities in the region and to find public, private, and nonprofit resources that leaders can utilize in pursuit of addressing these challenges.

“Our team and community partners determined the main themes of Resilient through outreach, research, and analysis. Within each theme, Resilient establishes action items to move our regional planning efforts forward,” said Keller. Implementation of the 90-page Resilient plan will begin this spring.