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Holcomb's final year priority is expanding 'awareness and access' to existing state resources

Eric Holcomb stands in the Indiana House chamber. He is a White man, with white and gray hair and beard, wearing glasses and a suit.
Brandon Smith
/
IPB News
Gov. Eric Holcomb is heading into his eighth year as governor, term-limited from running for another term.

Gov. Eric Holcomb said the top priority for his final year in office will be providing more "awareness and access” to existing state resources.

Holcomb is heading into his eighth year as governor, term-limited from running for another term.

He said too many state programs, such as job training, are working for some people but aren’t being used by others who could benefit from them.

“And you can just drown in the sea of acronyms or state programs and wonder if it’s available to you,” Holcomb said.

Holcomb said part of the work will focus on helping people connect what they hear about state government to their own lives.

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As an example, Holcomb noted that the Indiana Economic Development Corporation has had more capital investment in the last two years than it had in the first 12 years since it was created. But what does that mean to the average Hoosier?

“This CapEx means opportunity,” Holcomb said. “They know it means an average career of $75,000, $36.07 [an hour] and where those opportunities are.”

Holcomb said he’ll be traveling the state more in his final year as part of that outreach.

Brandon is our Statehouse bureau chief. Contact him at bsmith@ipbs.org or follow him on Twitter at @brandonjsmith5.

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Brandon Smith has covered the Statehouse for Indiana Public Broadcasting for more than a decade, spanning three governors and a dozen legislative sessions. He's also the host of Indiana Week in Review, a weekly political and policy discussion program seen and heard across the state. He previously worked at KBIA in Columbia, Missouri and WSPY in Plano, Illinois. His first job in radio was in another state capitol - Jefferson City, Missouri - as a reporter for three stations around the Show-Me State.