True change comes from within. That saying holds for Regional Opportunity Initiatives Inc., a nonprofit organization looking to stabilize its own workforce before bringing change to its greater 11-county target region.
Tina Peterson, who serves as the president and CEO of the Community Foundation of Bloomington and Monroe County, also serves as ROI’s interim CEO as it aspires to create a systemic change in the way careers are built. Fueled by nearly $26 million of an overall $42 million Lilly Endowment grant, ROI’s focus is to create economic prosperity, improve southwest-central Indiana’s quality of life and guide individuals into a sustainable economic environment.
“No one county in this region can be successful on its own,” said Peterson, stressing the importance of listening to local needs while planning for the region. “There’s no way, in terms of employment, for Monroe County to be successful without pulling from the other counties.”
ROI’s target area encompasses Owen, Monroe, Brown, Greene, Lawrence, Martin, Daviess, Dubois, Orange, Washington and Crawford counties.
“The ROI board is the only entity that represents these counties (as a group),” said Peterson. “No one else is bringing all of these folks together.”
ROI has spent most of the first six months of its five-year funding cycle working on infrastructure, relocating its offices, launching a website and growing its team. But it also has helped bring real change to the region through a public education initiative. It has provided $700,000 to embed graduation and career coaches in eight of the region’s 27 school districts for the next two years. The Monroe County Community School Corp. and Richland-Bean Blossom Community School Corp. had two such graduation coaches previously, but had to scrape by with semester-to-semester funding. Now, eight districts in the region will have coaches and more dependable funding.