Hoosiers are being left behind. Indiana must invest in people. | Opinion

Hoosiers are suffering as communities lose jobs, economic stability and population.

Sam Snideman
Opinion Contributor

Indiana is a great place to do business, but for many Hoosiers, it can be a challenging place to live. State-level quality-of-life rankings like those done by CNBC typically place Indiana near the bottom, and while those metrics should always be viewed with some measure of skepticism, they do send important signals.

Among the insights we can glean from these rankings: If Indiana wants to achieve its goal of a thriving economic future, it must do more to create thriving people.

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While Indiana’s leaders have done a great deal to improve the state’s processes and systems during the last two decades, the next two decades call for a person-focused approach to addressing the major challenges facing Hoosier households, from securing affordable child care to accessing stable housing. Without these essentials, our residents can’t thrive.

As a state, we have been a model of fiscal prudence, thereby achieving competitive tax rates and balancing budgets, creating emergency reserves and strengthening credit ratings. But many Hoosiers, rightfully, have not felt those benefits. Middle-income, working class and poor Hoosiers all have felt left behind as inflation eats away at wage growth and as communities lose jobs, economic stability and population.

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Gov.-elect Mike Braun and his team have outlined several ambitious goals in their first legislative session, and comments from legislative leaders and those in charge of the General Assembly’s fiscal committees suggest that money will be tight for all kinds of worthy causes.

Still, in this moment of opportunity, our elected leaders must recognize that to make the next four years better than the last, Hoosiers need more support. This might include direct state actions and appropriations or encouragement for the development of more privately funded action like we are beginning to see with tri-share pilots and other employer-sponsored care initiatives in child care. Hoosiers deserve a greater level of attention to their well-being and economic stability.

A child builds a stack of blocks at IU Health Day Early Learning Center, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2019.

One of the benefits of this populist moment in our politics is that everyone, regardless of party, seems to want to take a people-oriented approach to addressing the challenges facing us. Braun's legislative agenda appears oriented toward addressing critical issues facing Hoosiers: health care, tax relief and quality of life.

During the 2025 legislative session, Braun and the legislature also should find ways to support investments in things like child care, which, in addition to helping kids learn and develop, provides a tremendous economic return. Legislators also should support housing because too many Hoosiers are priced out of safe places to live, and without stable housing, people can’t work. 

Government does not need to provide all these things, but it can and should create a foundation for people to live stable and productive lives. If Indiana is going to remain economically competitive, we have to begin to see and invest in human talent and flourishing in the same way we see things like roads and utilities. The economy does not work if people cannot participate in it.

Sam Snideman is vice president of government relations for United Way of Central Indiana.