Northern Indiana’s South Bend-Elkhart region emerged from Indiana’s Regional Cities Initiative with a strong working regional partnership that includes representatives from Elkhart, Marshall, and St. Joseph Counties as well as the University of Notre Dame. For the purposes of the Indiana GPS Project, Fulton County is part of this region to ensure inclusion of all communities. Like much of the state, Northern Indiana is manufacturing intensive, making it one of the nation’s regions most exposed to the effects of automation.