View Comments Gov. Eric Holcomb recently announced the Regional Economic Acceleration and Development Initiative (READI), a $500 million effort to fuel economic development among self-organized regions statewide. The initiative encourages collaboration between cities and towns to propose plans to “retain talent today and attract the workforce of tomorrow.” Proposals may focus on prioritizing physical infrastructure, housing improvements and cultural amenities. An understandable strategy by community developers when grant requests are up to $50 million. These investments can add significant value but can also be expensive in terms of both time and resources, and it can also be challenging to predict the point of diminishing return. This should be a red flag for award recipients responsible for measuring ROI.