economic inclusion
EBDI actively encourages MBE, WBE, and LBE firms to economically participate in contracting opportunities.
Our Impact
EBDI’s Economic Inclusion Initiative ensures that our revitalization effort creates lasting opportunities for local residents and businesses in East Baltimore.
It promotes the participation of Minority-, Women-, and Locally-Owned Businesses (MBEs, WBEs, LBEs) in redevelopment projects and prioritizes the hiring of residents from the surrounding community.
local business directory
EBDI’s Economic Inclusion Team meets with local, minority and women business enterprises (L/M/WBE) on a rolling basis to better understand contractors’ qualifications and their interest in EBDI opportunities.
Economic Inclusion Goals
In addition to inclusion in current redevelopment projects, EBDI’s Economic Inclusion Initiative is committed to long-term impact. It supports professional development for local businesses and prepares residents for careers in life sciences, construction, healthcare, and other industries through targeted workforce training and bridge employment programs.
Current goals of the initiative include:
- Increasing M/W/L/RBE contracting opportunities within East Baltimore project areas
- Expanding outreach to raise awareness of business opportunities through targeted engagement and media
- Strengthening workforce development programs through partnerships with job training providers
Construction Goals
MBEs - 27%
WBEs - 8%
Architecture, Engineering & Design Goals
MBEs - 21%
WBEs - 13%
General Services Goals
MBEs - 17%
WBEs - 9%
monitoring & compliance
EBDI manifests a true commitment to the ongoing success of its Economic Inclusion initiative by maintaining progressive inclusion policies, clear contractual requirements, timely monitoring, accurate reporting, and ongoing compliance. A third-party firm regularly evaluates developers’ performance to ensure LBEs, MBEs, WBEs, and local workers can fully access opportunities from redevelopment activities.
EBDI prioritizes directing significant work from the East Baltimore revitalization project to local minority- and women-owned businesses and Baltimore City workers. To track this, EBDI established an Economic Inclusion Policy to verify payments to contractors and workers, labor hours based on priority status, and the developer’s overall project contribution.