Amanda Rebedu, vice president of economic development for Aspire Johnson County, told a Franklin City meeting that the organization is continuing business attraction, retention and workforce programs while seeing a sharp slowdown in project leads.

Rebedu said Aspire Johnson County serves as the county chamber and economic development organization and works with state and regional partners including the Indiana Economic Development Corporation and the Indy Partnership. She described five service areas: economic development, business advocacy, entrepreneurial services, community development and member services. "We respond to leads directly from brokers," she said.

Rebedu reviewed targets set in a 2020 strategic plan: a goal to increase advanced-industry jobs by 50% and to raise the county average wage by 15 percent. She said the 2020 advanced-industry base was 4,100 jobs, the goal was 6,100, and the current count is 4,716. She said the 2020 base average wage was $19.23 per hour and the strategic goal was a 15% increase; a specific dollar target reported in the transcript was unclear and is not stated here.

On leads activity, Rebedu said Aspire submits about 60 project proposals a year but typically hears back from about five; over the prior 12 months the organization responded to 57 leads. She said lead activity has become ‘‘very, very slow’’ since before the recent election and cited general market uncertainty and tariffs as contributing factors. Rebedu added that of the recent leads, 35 sought existing buildings, 18 sought land sites, and seven were open to either.

To counter the slowdown, Aspire is maintaining outreach to national site selectors through marketing and brief meetings so Franklin-area sites remain top-of-mind. Rebedu said business-retention-and-expansion visits (BRE visits) remain a priority to keep existing employers in Johnson County.

Rebedu highlighted Aspire’s School-to-Work program, which connects students with employers for career discovery. She said the group was designated by the state as an intermediary, received a grant to provide required 30-minute career-discovery meetings and conducted 2,161 such meetings last year, with engagement up about 97% from the prior year. She explained that the meetings are in person during school hours and limited to five students per meeting.

Rebedu also described a strategic-plan update under way, including a SWOT survey and a site inventory review. She said an intern is analyzing past project leads to determine causes for declines and that stakeholder listening sessions will be scheduled; she aimed to complete the update by November and asked attendees to participate.

A meeting participant thanked Rebedu for the report; no formal action or vote followed. Rebedu said some companies have expressed interest in Johnson County but nothing was finalized. She encouraged local stakeholders to respond to outreach and noted that Aspire will return in November with updates from grant recipients.