Page 11 - New Allen Alliance Digital Book

Outcomes and Impacts

East Allen’s Rural Revival Regional Development Plan provides a framework and structure to achieve the regional goals of
Economic Sustainability, Regional Vitality, and Livable Communities. The achievement of the goals and objectives listed
in Section 3 is expected to affect the desired outcomes, detailed as follows.

The Imperative migration of workers to/from the surrounding counties of DeKalb, Noble, Whitley,
In the Northeast Indiana 11-county region, we are already seeing the impacts of Huntington, and Wells from 2006 to 2016 showed an overall net inward migration
demographic population shifts on workforce availability. With employment rates at total reduction of 25% from 11,969 to 9,029.
3.3% as of July 2018, employers are having difficulty finding workers with the skills The Approach
needed to fill jobs. As a result, population growth has become a primary economic
strategy. According to the Northeast Indiana Regional Cities Road to One Million Through research and benchmarking how other communities have successfully
Plan, “We know that the only way to grow our economy is to grow our population. navigated complex economic obstacles such as demographic and employment
At our current growth rate of .7%, over the next decade, the region will add nearly shifts, the EPA report How Small Towns and Cities Can Use Local Assets to Rebuild
53,000 people, but they will be sustained by a small economy: We will have nearly Their Economies, Lessons from Successful Places provided a good overview.
9,000 fewer people in our labor force; of those in the labor force, the number who According to the report, “Over time, all communities experience changes that affect
are employed would shrink by 18,000, our school-age population will remain the the industries, technologies, and land use patterns that help form the foundation
same, and our real GDP and total wages will stagnate.” of their local economies. Economically resilient towns, cities, and regions adapt to
changing conditions and even reinvent their economic bases if necessary. Even if
In addition to demographic shifts impacting workforce capacity, East Allen County is the community has lost its original or main economic driver, it has other assets that
also experiencing the effects of a changing economy. According to the policy brief, it can use to spur the local economy. While most economic development strategies
Footloose Jobs and Urbanization by Michael Hicks and David Terrell, “Over the involve some effort to recruit major employers, such as manufacturers or large
past 50 years, the United States has seen both decline in the number of footloose retailers, many successful small towns and cities complement recruitment by
jobs (occupations that produce goods for sale outside the local region) and growth emphasizing their existing assets and distinctive resources.” The report provides
of more than 90 million non-footloose jobs (occupations that create goods and several case studies that illustrate successful tactics used including: Identifying and
services for local consumption). Employment growth in this time period has been building on existing assets, engaging all members in planning efforts, leveraging of
confined exclusively to larger urban counties, with significant job losses in rural outside funding, incentives for redevelopment and investment, cooperation within
and mid-sized towns.” Manufacturing jobs largely fit into the footloose category. communities and across regions, and support of clean and healthy environments.
Shifts in household spending, technological advances, global job transference and
the agglomeration of footloose jobs in more urbanized areas where there is an The Plan
adequate workforce are all factors identified by Hicks and Terrell that are impacting East Allen’s Rural Revival Regional Development Plan has been designed to take
this fundamental shift in employment. a comprehensive, relevant approach to addressing the complex economic needs
of the region.
The Footloose brief also analyzes shifts in employment from 2001 to 2014 by
regional labor market in Indiana. The Northeast Indiana market was shown to have QUALITY-OF-PLACE INVESTMENT: A cornerstone of the plan focuses on the
a decrease in footloose jobs by 16.5%, an increase in non-footloose jobs by 5.6%, collective investment by East Allen’s communities in quality-of-place projects
and an overall decrease by .1%. Data presented by Ball State University’s Indiana (downtowns, parks, sidewalks, and trails) concentrated in target areas of
Communities Institute at the East Allen Indiana Regional Stellar Communities finalist revitalization within each community. The collective engagement and investment
meeting also showed that between 1969 and 2014, Allen County’s employment by the NewAllen communities to raise the quality of life of the communities will
remained flat, ranging from around 70-85,000. At the same time, non-exportable create a regional environment recognized by business and industry as appealing to
employment increased substantially from around 55,000 to 140,000. In and out their operations and workforce. This investment will also enhance the livability of

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