Indiana’s first round of READI grants is getting credit for packing a serious punch. A new analysis, along with recent coverage, says the READI 1.0 program and its matching investments have generated roughly $675 million in economic activity statewide. The Regional Economic Acceleration and Development Initiative launched in 2021 with about $500 million in state funding and has backed hundreds of local projects spread across 17 regions. State and regional officials have stressed that hefty local and private matches helped stretch the original state dollars far beyond their face value.
As reported by the Indianapolis Business Journal, that $675 million estimate has become the headline takeaway, especially for lawmakers and regional development authorities already eyeing future rounds of READI money. Planners around the state say the attention is a useful reminder that relatively small seed grants can set off a longer chain of private and public investment.
Study findings and scope
The statewide impact study was prepared by the Purdue University Center for Regional Development in partnership with the Indiana University Public Policy Institute, using IMPLAN input-output modeling. According to Purdue’s April 2025 disbursement update, 357 projects had recorded READI disbursements totaling $268,690,182 as of March 15, 2025. That represents actual money out the door, not full project budgets, which helps explain why different reports land on different impact totals. An earlier baseline analysis from July 2024 used $469.6 million in state-allocated project funds and, not surprisingly, produced a larger headline output estimate.
State perspective and program scale
Per the Indiana Economic Development Corporation, READI 1.0 awarded roughly $487 million to 353 distinct projects. When those awards are combined with reported local matches, the program is credited with helping mobilize about $12.6 billion in total leveraged investment. The IEDC also notes that READI 2.0 followed on the heels of that first wave, with approximately $750 million in new commitments and updated expectations for local matching and key performance metrics. Those details are laid out by the Indiana Economic Development Corporation.
Local leverage and the multipliers
A supplemental analysis from PCRD zeroed in on what locals were bringing to the table. Applicants reported about $11.8 billion in non-state funds in their project proposals, and a sample-based multiplier in that study suggested every $1 million of local investment generated an estimated $1.85 in economic output. The same supplement found that, on average, each $1 million in project spending was associated with roughly 11 jobs and about $689,000 in labor income. Local leaders routinely cite those figures when they argue for keeping READI-style tools in the economic development toolbox. The full sample and methodology are detailed in the PCRD local-leverage supplement.
In short, the headline numbers differ because researchers and reporters are looking at different slices of the spending picture: original state-allocated project budgets, actual disbursements to date, or sample-based estimates of local leverage. Across those approaches, the throughline is consistent. Modest state seed dollars have drawn much larger local and private commitments. With READI 2.0 now underway, regions will be judged less on how big the awards look on paper and more on how quickly they convert those awards into projects, jobs, and lasting taxable activity in communities across Indiana.
