New Castle-Henry County EDC board gets business updates

“We’re here to help people start, grow and flourish in business,” Peggy Cenova of the Indiana Small Business Development Center said while addressing the board. The ISBDC maintains an office in the Community Center building at 100 S. Main Street, New Castle. The organization is designed to assist start-up business ventures as well as those already in operation that have 500 or fewer employees.

The office provides a wide range of services including assistance in writing a business plan, help in securing financing, and access to assorted data including traffic patterns, marketing trends and demographics.

“The ISBDC is a great partner and they provide a great service. It’s available at no cost to the business or the entrepreneur. It’s definitely worth people’s time to consider making use of what they have to offer,” EDC President and CEO Corey Murphy said.

It was reported the local office assisted five new businesses get started in Henry County so far this year and that several others were assisted in some way. Scott Underwood is the local ISBDC representative. He can be contacted at (765) 939-0629 or at sunderwood@isbdc.org.

New Castle Mayor Greg York reported he and Murphy recently toured the Boar’s Head meat processing plant south of town. York said construction of the facility is ahead of schedule and under budget.

“They’re moving forward and they feel very good about the future,” York said, adding that several design elements are in place to allow for an expansion on the south side of the building and that such an expansion might happen sooner than originally anticipated.

Murphy reported that a $500,000 grant from the Environmental Protection Agency to assess brownfields (potentially contaminated industrial sites) is being put to good use.

“We’re moving forward on this,” he said. “It’s going to allow us to do some really good things.”