Kosciusko County commissioners approve $100,000 to support OrthoWorks' administration of $30 million state grant

Kosciusko County commissioners voted to approve $100,000 included in this year’s budget to support OrthoWorks’ administration of a $30,000,000 state grant intended for an orthopedic-industry retention initiative known locally as “Horry.” The voice vote passed without recorded dissent.

OrthoWorks representative Bob told commissioners the $100,000 would be used to help administer and manage deployment of the $30,000,000 state grant and to support OrthoWorks’ ongoing operating activities. “The purpose of our being here today is both to provide you with a brief update about OrthoWorks and the work we’ve been doing in and around our community and to request the $100,000 of financial support that we understand to have been included in this year's county budget,” Bob said.

The grant, described in OrthoWorks materials as the Orthopedic Industry Retention Initiative, is intended to seed projects across Kosciusko County in areas such as talent attraction and retention, housing, community amenities and experiences, and industry expansion. Bob said OrthoWorks expects to use the funds to “seed” projects and to leverage additional public and private matching funds; he emphasized the $30,000,000 will largely go into capital projects and that administration will require staff and reporting capacity.

Bob outlined project examples that OrthoWorks is pursuing with the Horry funds: three housing projects proposing about 220 new housing units, a community amenities program, participation in a city–county parking garage project, redevelopment of fairgrounds property, and continued work on an innovation development district. He said OrthoWorks has earmarked $6,000,000 in an "amenities" bucket and $1,000,000 for experiences within a broader allocation. He told the commission the organization proposes using a local foundation (K21 Health Foundation) to administer a countywide $5,000,000 portion of amenities funding and to convene a review committee that will include local representatives.

Bob said OrthoWorks has hired an executive director, Ryan Krishner, and a project manager, Lucas Reif, to provide day-to-day oversight and to meet state reporting requirements associated with the grant. He also described OrthoWorks’ partnership role with Plug and Play (a startup accelerator), the Northeast Indiana Regional Partnership, local school districts, higher-education partners and industry leaders.

Commissioners questioned the request’s size relative to the $30,000,000 state grant and pressed for detail on how OrthoWorks would link the initiative to adjacent sectors such as agriculture and manufacturing. Bob described crossover opportunities (for example, ag tech at the fairgrounds redevelopment and advanced manufacturing training programs) and said OrthoWorks runs school outreach and talent programs including a gamified virtual reality program called iExplore to expose students to hard-to-fill manufacturing jobs.

Commissioner (unnamed) moved to approve the funding “that’s already in our budget as it was proposed”; another commissioner seconded. The commission approved the motion by voice vote. The commissioners recorded that the $100,000 was already budgeted and that the county’s support would be monitored as state reporting and matching activity proceeds.

OrthoWorks and its allies cited prior philanthropic investments—Grace College earlier received a $27,200,000 Lilly Endowment award—and state and regional economic-development partners as collaborators on several projects tied to the Horry funding. Bob said a principal objective is to leverage the $30,000,000 into larger private and public investment over time.

The commission did not set additional conditions in the meeting beyond approving the previously budgeted $100,000; commissioners asked staff to ensure proper stewardship and reporting to the state.