Overview
The East Baltimore Development Inc.’s Economic Inclusion Initiative promotes the involvement of Minority-Owned (MBE), Women-Owned (WBE), and Locally-Owned Businesses (LBE), along with the employment of local residents in the ongoing economic transformation of the East Baltimore Revitalization Area.
The initiative takes a long-term philosophy, seeking to provide professional development opportunities and business incubation services to start-up businesses, while it simultaneously strives to increase Baltimore’s local capacity for the accurate monitoring of economic inclusion goals and objectives on large scale projects.
Through the workforce development programs that are part of this initiative, EBDI also seeks to assist the residents living in the project area in both connecting with new employment opportunities and connecting with meaningful, life-long careers.
Goals
During the initial phase of the project, EBDI focused its efforts on encouraging MBE, WBE, and LBE firms to economically participate in contracting opportunities available in the areas of Construction; Architecture and Engineering; and General Services.
At the outset of the East Baltimore Revitalization Initiative, EBDI established the following goals for economic inclusion of these businesses and, to date, has made good and substantial progress toward achieving and surpassing each of these participation targets:
Construction:Architecture/Engineering/Design:
General Services:
However, the goals of EBDI’s Economic Inclusion initiative also extend beyond the inclusion of these targeted businesses. The initiative strives to think to the future by also providing professional development and capacity building opportunities for these businesses. It also seeks to build the capacity of individual residents, through workforce training and bridge employment programs that prepare participants to join and excel in the life sciences, construction, healthcare and other workforces. Future goals for the Economic Inclusion initiative include:
- Increasing M/W/L/RBE contracting opportunities within the scope of the East Baltimore Development project areas;
- Establishing an East Baltimore Biotech Business Incubator;
- Assisting the minority business community with capacity building and growth of their companies by providing information and access to financial, certification, bonding and business related resources;
- Increasing awareness of business opportunities associated with the East Baltimore Development project and surrounding areas through outreach activities to local minority and women business enterprises, publications, the internet and various media; and
- Constantly improving workforce development programming through continued collaboration and partnership with community and corporate based job training programs.
Monitoring & Compliance
EBDI manifests a true commitment to the ongoing success of its Economic Inclusion initiative through a sustained emphasis on ensuring progressive inclusion policies and contractual requirements, timely monitoring, accurate reporting, and ongoing compliance of program activities. The initiative’s performance is regularly monitored by a third-party monitoring team made up of The Nelson Ideology Group (TNIG) and Sage Policy Group. Through its inclusion efforts and monitoring process, EBDI seeks to maximize the ability for local-, minority-, and women-owned companies as well as local workers to access the business and job opportunities stemming from the redevelopment activities.
Click here to read about our Economic Inclusion and Procurement Policy.
