As part of an overarching strategy to improve economic and community prosperity in the Indiana Uplands, ROI established the Ready Communities Program in 2018 to help counties identify their assets and plan for potential grant and funding opportunities. The process began with Ready Communities planning grants, enabling each Indiana Uplands county to develop a Quality of Place and Workforce Attraction Plan.

Developed by stakeholders and community leaders, each county plan served as a strategic roadmap for developing and implementing projects and initiatives to build quality-of-place amenities, strengthen local and regional capacity for workforce attraction, and improve residents’ quality of life. Together, these efforts make the Indiana Uplands a desirable place to live, work, and play.

Recognizing the success of the 2018-2019 planning efforts, ROI provided planning grants to county partners again in 2025 to update their Quality of Place and Workforce Attraction plans. Each of the 2025 updated plans includes data profiles, quality-of-place amenities, key areas of progress since 2019, and current quality of place and workforce attraction priorities.

2025 Updated Quality of Place and Workforce Attraction Plans

2019 Quality of Place and Workforce Attraction Plans