Local Decision Maker; Assisting Indiana communities in making informed and integrated land use and economic development decisions

November 17, 2014

Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant

Local Decision Maker (LDM) is a powerful decision support system for comprehensive planning. LDM brings together the data, current research, analyses, mapping tools, and models to assist communities throughout the planning process. If vexing issues such as too much growth, too little growth, loss of natural resources, poor employment outlook, or declining school populations have driven your community to the point that change is wanted, you will find LDM useful. LDM will help you assess existing conditions, develop a realistic vision of the future, identify future development strategies, and select a preferred strategy consistent with the community’s economic, natural resource, social and cultural objectives and projected resource bases. Conflicts are unavoidable given competing objectives. Overall, we expect communities that use LDM will find ways to navigate through these conflicts and develop a comprehensive plan supported by the community.
The site is designed for county planners, planning consultants and public officials. If you are new to the comprehensive planning process, please spend some time in the Resources section. In addition, we recently added the map to the right that summarizes existing planning efforts throughout Indiana. Before starting a planning effort, you may want to visit some of the counties that have recently completed or updated their comprehensive plans.

Group of people removing ghost nets from a beach.

Alabama

Biden-Harris administration invests $27 million to support community-driven marine debris solutions through Investing in America agenda

Today, the Department of Commerce and NOAA announced $27 million in funding for projects to prevent and remove marine debris in coastal and Great Lakes communities as part of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

This funding will support innovative research and foster local coalitions to address urgent marine debris issues by using NOAA Sea Grant’s partnered approach to bring science together with communities for solutions that work.

Shoring up the future, together: Collaborative efforts in coastal resilience across the Mid-Atlantic

Community members and city leaders gathered during a listening session to identify key climate readiness needs in Erie, Pennsylvania during June of 2023. (Photo by

Biden-Harris Administration invests $60 million to build a climate-ready workforce through Investing in America agenda

Today, the Department of Commerce and NOAA announced $60 million in funding to help train and place people in jobs that advance a climate-ready workforce for coastal and Great Lakes states, Tribes and Territories as part of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda under the Inflation Reduction Act. To date, awards like these from President Biden’s Investing in America agenda have created more than 270,000 jobs across the country.

The funding will support nine projects around the nation, with $50 million going directly to the projects and $10 million for technical assistance to support the grantees.