Why Poverty Is Indiana's Biggest Problem | Fred Payne, United Way of Central Indiana

On today's show I sat down with Fred Payne, President and CEO of United Way of Central Indiana, about his path from Louisiana to Indiana, meeting his wife in Bloomington, and his career spanning labor law, nearly a decade at Honda's plant in Greensburg, and serving almost five years as Indiana's Commissioner of Workforce Development.

Payne explains the Department of Workforce Development's training role and its administration of unemployment insurance, highlighting COVID's surge that saw $10.2 billion paid to 900,000 Hoosiers over about two years.

He then became President and CEO of United Way of Central Indiana in 2022 and describes a five-year strategy targeting basic needs, early learning, housing, and economic mobility, aiming to distance 10,000 households from poverty, using partner accreditation, data tools like the Impact United dashboard and ALICE report, and volunteer pathways such as Volunpair and Read Up.

If you like this episode and want to hear more Get IN. episodes where I interview Hoosiers making a difference, visit getindiana.com/podcast.

You are going to learn about:

- Fred Payne's Path to United Way of Central Indiana

- United Way's Five-Year Strategy

- What an ALICE Report Is

- Volunteer Opportunities Via Volunpair and ReadUP

Check out these great clips from the show:

00:00 Poverty Sets the Stage

01:48 From Bayou to IU Law