By Steuart Pittman
I signed a proclamation last week declaring October 25-29, 2021 Economic Development Week in Anne Arundel County. Most Maryland counties did the same.
For me, the timing was good. I’ve done a series of meetings over the last few weeks with groups of local businesses to get a read on where they stand entering the post-pandemic era and what role local government should play.
All of these groups acknowledge that government’s role is and should be limited. They share the conviction that I developed over decades running a small business that government regulation is a tool to be deployed only when significant public benefit is certain.
They also have learned over the years that government isn’t good at picking winners and losers. I hear too many stories from business owners about unfair advantages going to the well-connected competitors who had an inside track on government grants, including the larger federal and state programs coming down to assist with pandemic recovery.
And then there are the systemic preferences for the larger companies that hire the most lobbyists, leading to Amazon poaching our school bus drivers and Alden Global Capital cannibalizing our local newspaper. That’s the kind of economic development that we need less of.
The overwhelming message coming today from our local owners of restaurants, school bus companies, construction companies, and the chambers of commerce is that they can’t find qualified applicants for their jobs, even after raising wages. That’s where they want government to engage, and that’s where government should engage. Government is about people, and people are the foundation of every business, every nonprofit, every government agency, and every economy on the planet.
We have a shortage of qualified, job-ready applicants. A job-ready applicant is somebody who not only has education and training, but also housing, transportation, child care, and both physical and mental health. Job-ready applicants come from healthy, thriving communities, something my administration works to create every day.
But COVID-19 set our communities and our people back. The hourly workers got hit the hardest, both by the virus and the layoffs. They and their communities must recover. But the challenges to our hourly workforce didn’t start in March 2020.
Baltimore Metropolitan Council, a regional organization where I serve on the board, surveyed jobseekers for its 2019 report titled Barriers to Employment Opportunity in the Baltimore Region. The primary barrier even then was not a shortage of jobs. It was education, training, transportation, child care, housing, mental health, addiction, and financial barriers to acquiring them all.
So set politics aside. Look at where we stand through the eyes of a business person, a social scientist, an economist, or a county executive. Economic development today in our region and county is workforce development. It’s community college. It’s high school, middle school, and elementary school. It’s kindergarten readiness. It’s quality, affordable childcare, public transportation, affordable housing, and healthcare. It’s performance-tested prison re-entry programs, addiction prevention and treatment, and mental health services. And it’s training.
That doesn’t mean we push aside our Economic Development Corporation (EDC). Our EDC has already adapted. It’s the go-to place for business owners, particularly small locally-owned business owners, to get the training and the tools to find and retain employees. It’s the home of our new Inclusive Ventures Program where new minority and disadvantaged entrepreneurs start and grow their operations. And it’s the strike team that steps in when local businesses confront challenges, like a pandemic-stricken economy.
As we recognize Economic Development Week, I hope we can look with enthusiasm at the opportunities that this moment offers: higher wages for our most vulnerable residents, a consensus that government can and should play a role in delivering a job-ready and healthy workforce, and a recognition that we are all in this together.
Let’s get back to work.