By: Caitlin Hancock—
Muncie, IN – East Central Indiana Regional Partnership’s president/CEO, Mindy Kenworthy, has announced the establishment of a 10-county collective and collaborative lifestyle marketing effort.
ECIRP has created a special marketing committee, Elevate ECI, which includes representatives from each county and key partners like economic development, tourism, main street organizations and regional employers. The group formed in May to discuss some of the challenges the region faces such as stigma of living in a rural area, apathy of some residents, loss of manufacturing industries and population decline.
The Elevate ECI committee decided it was time to flip the script and highlight the many positives of living in a small community like affordability, accessibility to various entrepreneurial opportunities and uniqueness of the region’s many historic districts.
East Central Indiana has faced consistent population decline over the last decade with many high school students leaving for college and not returning to the area. Additionally, many graduates from the region’s colleges and universities relocate to other cities to start their careers. Mikayla Marazzi, director of marketing and communication for the Grant County Economic Growth Council and part of the Elevate ECI committee, is an exception. “I came from Canada to play tennis at Indiana Wesleyan University and never expected to stay after I graduated. But as I started getting off campus more, I was introduced into a different world of what it means to live in East Central Indiana. I have had opportunities to be a part of projects, events, committees, conversations, networks etc. that I would have never had in a large, urban city. As people continue to choose where they want to live first, rather than moving solely for a job, I believe it is incumbent on us to develop a recruitment strategy that promotes the quality of life and amenities in the region,” said Marazzi.
“With record low unemployment rates and negative population growth, the region determined it was necessary to focus marketing efforts on quality of life and talent attraction in order to meet the current and future workforce demands,” said Kenworthy. “Recent talent attraction studies conducted by national marketing firm Development Counsellors International and media outlet LivabilityMedia support the case to expand traditional economic development efforts with placemaking initiatives.”
Elevate ECI is working with Irongate Creative, Circle Three Branding and Stratavize Consulting to develop a distinct multi-year multi-media marketing and outreach effort aimed at bringing back residents who have left, retaining current residents and enticing visitors of the region to relocate. The initiative’s marketing strategy will launch in 2020. To keep up with the initiative’s progress, subscribe to the Elevate ECI newsletter here.
About the East Central Indiana Regional Partnership
Established in 2005, the East Central Indiana Regional Partnership’s mission is to market the assets and resources of the 10-county East Central Indiana region. Member counties include Blackford, Delaware, Fayette, Grant, Henry, Jay, Madison, Randolph, Rush and Wayne. The Partnership teams with local economic development organizations and the state’s lead economic development agency – the Indiana Economic Development Corporation – to bring capital investment and new jobs to the region.
