Economic Development Coalition of Southwest Indiana (800-401-7683)

Planning Grant awarded to Oakland City, Indiana.

Official Lt. Governor's Announcement

For Elected Officials and their staffs of Gibson, Posey, Vanderburgh and Warrick Counties:

Please click on the link for the March 11, 2010 Tools of Economic Development Registration Form.

Registration Form

Although the Economic Development Coalition of SW Indiana has not ventured into “housing” for the four counties, we try to stay informed of the housing opportunities afforded by IHCDA.  

www.in.gov/ihcda/files/Emergency_Shelter_List(1).pdf

The Courier Press/Tom Lovett (Nov. 4, 2009)

For the fourth consecutive year, the Southern Indiana Japanese School has been awarded the School Award in Writing by the Japan Overseas Educational Services, a subsidiary of the Japanese government's Ministry of Education and Science. The Southern Indiana Japanese School is an extended services program of the University of Southern Indiana. More than 300 Japanese schools worldwide were eligible for the School Award in writing. Only 15 were selected to receive it.

In addition to the School Award in Writing, 10 students from Southern Indiana Japanese School were awarded prizes for their writings and poems in the 30th Literature Contest. "All our students and teachers have been working on this contest since April," said Keietsu Nishimura, principal of Southern Indiana Japanese School. "We are proud of this accomplishment. It's not easy to win this prize, especially four times in a row." Southern Indiana Japanese School opened in 1997 at the request of and with the financial support of Tri-State regional companies. The school prepares students for a smooth transition into Japanese school life when they return home.

EVANSVILLE — The newly released U.S. News & World Report's "Best Colleges" data lists the University of Evansville 10th among master's-granting institutions in the Midwest.

UE comes in second on a list of best values in the Midwest, trailing only Creighton University, and sixth in a "strong commitment to teaching" list for the region.

"Ranking where we did in each category, among 142 eligible institutions, is just one of the many indicators confirming our success in maintaining the highest academic quality at the University of Evansville," UE President Stephen Jennings said.

The magazine measures academic quality by using the assessments of administrators at peer institutions, student graduation and retention rates, faculty resources, student selectivity, financial resources and alumni giving.

In a nationwide list of best universities, the top 10 consist of Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford, California Institute of Technology, the University of Pennsylvania, Columbia, Duke and the University of Chicago.

-John Martin/Evansville Courier & Press

Toyota Motor Corp. plans to spend $500 million to prepare its plant in Princeton, Ind., to build Highlander sports-utility vehicles.

Toyota will begin making the Highlander in October, in space once used for the production of Tundra pickup trucks. The figure, first reported by Bloomberg News, was included in a document filed with the Security and Exchange Commission on June 24.

Kelly Dillon, a Toyota spokeswoman, said the document merely puts a dollar value on the company’s plan to modify the plant so the Highlander can be built there. Toyota announced that plan about a year ago, at the same time that it said it was halting its production of Sequoia SUVs for three months and eventually moving the production of Tundras to San Antonio, Texas.

The investment will result in no additions to the 4,500 Princeton workers, whom Toyota has gone to lengths to avoid laying off. During times in which the company has suspended production on the various vehicles made in Princeton, it has kept affected workers busy by training them to make the plant safer, cleaner and more efficient. That was true both during the three-month halt in making Sequoias, as well as during the different times production of the Sienna minivan, built in the Princeton East plant, has been suspended.

During the past few months, Toyota has been bringing to its Princeton plant equipment needed to make Highlanders, Dillon said. Spending $500 million for that purpose will bring the total investment at the plant to about $3.7 billion.

Toyota had first planned to build the Highlander in a factory it is building in Blue Springs, Miss. But, prompted by a falling demand for large vehicles, company executives changed their minds, instead deciding to make the Prius in Mississippi.

-Dan Shaw, Evansville Courier and Press

According to Standard & Poor’s, the S&P Small Cap 600 is designed to be an efficient portfolio of companies that meet specific inclusion criteria to ensure that they are investable and financially viable and is fast becoming the preferred small cap index in the United States.

Old National Bancorp of Evansville is the largest financial services holding company headquartered in Indiana and, with $7.8 billion in assets, ranks among the top 100 banking companies in the United States.

Fujichem Inc., is in the process of buying Red Spot Paint & Varnish Co. Inc., one of Evansville’s oldest manufacturers, for $63.2 million. Red Spot will mark its 105th anniversary in December.

Fujichem is a subsidiary of Fujikura Kasei, which produces and sells derivative products of acrylic resins, similarly to Red Spot.

Both Red Spot and Fujikura, a Japanese company with which it has done business for 36 years, are global leaders in advanced coatings for plastics, and supply the automotive industry, including Toyota, and other industries.

Halling said the Red Spot name and the company’s Evansville headquarters, which include manufacturing, research, sales and administrative facilities, will be retained. He said all 345 Red Spot employees also will be retained.

Larry Taylor, who recently retired as senior vice president of Accuride, has accepted the position of Warrick County Economic Development Director.

Taylor said he is passionate about the county and the community and is looking forward to promoting the county so more businesses will come to the area.

He stated that there has already been a lot of groundwork done by the county in the area.

“It’s an ideal time for anyone stepping into this,” Taylor said.

The first item on his agenda is creating a strategy for economic development.

Berry Plastics’ third expansion in Evansville in two years will bring 250 new professional jobs to the city as well as a $20 million investment in a new global headquarters.

Governor Mitch Daniels and Mayor Jonathan Weinzapfel joined Berry executives on Tuesday to announce the company’s plans to consolidate its global corporate headquarters here and bring the additional 250 employees.

“Headquarters locations, with high-paying jobs and community commitment they bring, are the best news an economy can get,” Daniels said.

Berry already employs more than 1,200 at the Evansville operation. It has 55 manufacturing operations worldwide, including three in Indiana. Globally, Berry employs more than 12,600 workers, including more than 1,600 in Indiana, company officials said.

State and local officials pledged support for the expansion. The Indiana Economic Development Corp. has offered Berry Plastics up to $4.7 million in performance-based tax credits and up to $200,000 in training grants based on the company’s job creation plans.

The state will also provide Evansville a grant of up to $94,000 to assist with off-site infrastructure improvements needed for the project.