Move To Baltimore : Innovation + Job News

Getting around the Inner Harbor may test the patience of drivers most days, but a new deal approved by Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and the City Council will turn the streets of Downtown Baltimore into a world-class race track in August 2011.

The 5-year agreement will allow for an IndyCar® 'Baltimore Grand Prix' street-racing event around the Inner Harbor and Camden Yards. "This is a game-changer for Baltimore," Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said after voting to approve the agreement.

The brainchild of Baltimore Racing Development (BRD), the Baltimore Grand Prix will be a three-day event that is expected to draw 100,000 indy racing enthusiasts from across the globe to Charm City and bring in some $80 million dollars to the local economy.Over five years, the race is expected to generate $11 million in direct city tax revenue, create nearly 2000 full-time equivalent jobs and $250 million in spending injected into the City's economy, according to the Economic Impact Report released by BRD.

Mayor Rawlings-Blake says that in addition to filling City hotel rooms and restaurants, the street race will "change the way the world sees Baltimore," as a result of global media exposure to millions of Indy Racing League (IRL) fans who attend similar events in Monte Carlo, San Paulo, Long Beach, and St. Petersburg. The race will be broadcast on national television to more than 3.5 million domestic viewers. Related media and marketing exposure is valued at an estimated $27.5 million over five years, according to the economic report.

As part of the agreement, Baltimore Racing Development will:

• Share event revenues with the City and pay an annual event fee.
• Comply with the City's Minority/Women Business Enterprise Program (MBE/WBE).
• Spend $12 to $14 million on race preparations, using primarily local businesses and labor.
• Create a 'Community Benefit Fund' of no less than $500 thousand over five years to make grants to community organizations in neighborhoods impacted by the event.

"BRD is deeply committed to Baltimore City. For us, making sure that all City residents, businesses, and communities benefit from this event was a top priority," says Jay Davidson, president of BRD. With the approval of today's agreement, the final sanction agreement between BRD and IRL is expected to be completed in the next two weeks, according to both organizations.

BRD and the City have already begun developing an Event Management Plan to address construction, public safety, traffic, parking, and other community impact issues. The event has already received letters of support from surrounding community associations eager to prepare for the event.

The agreement is an important milestone in making the Baltimore Grand Prix a reality. The event is a three day racing festival with many related events which will be free and open to the public. The race will include several ancillary events including a parade, fireworks, concerts, charity receptions, and celebrity races.

According to the BRD, the next step is for the Indy Racing League (IRL) to sign a sanctioning agreement. That should happen by May 31.

"The Indy Race is a huge event for Baltimore. People travel from around the world to attend and spend money in our hotels, restaurants, and attractions while they are here," says Visit Baltimore President and CEO Tom Noonan. "The national media coverage alone is worth millions of dollars in free advertising for the city that will generate new awareness of Baltimore with convention planners and leisure travelers."

Under the terms of the agreement, the City must modify and improve certain streets and sidewalks and other transportation-related infrastructure to comply the standards of the Indy Racing League.

Funds to improve roadways for the 2011 � 2016 Baltimore Grand Prix will come from two sources: Federal Highway Aid under the Surface Transportation program (STP) and a grant repayment agreement based on the City's share of state Highway User Revenues (HUR). The total estimated cost of improvements is $7.75 million comprised of $5 million STP funds and $2.75 in repayable HUR grants. In accordance with federal and state rules, these funds may only be used transportation-related expenses, and may not be diverted to other City programs.

Source: Baltimore City Mayor's Office
Writer: Walaika Haskins

The Baltimore Office of Sustainability has released its first annual report. Developed with the input of more than 1,000 residents, the Baltimore Sustainability Plan, was adopted by the Baltimore City Council in March, 2009. The annual report outlines the progress made to date toward achieving Plan goals and highlights the work underway that city leaders hope will benefit the economic, social, and environmental health of Baltimore.

The report identifies the seven major areas that define the goals of the Sustainability Plan: Cleanliness; Pollution Prevention; Resource Conservation; Greening; Transportation; Education and Awareness; and Green Economy. Each section includes a feature story that highlights the accomplishments toward achieving the goal as well as "Steps You Can Take" that provide citizens with suggested actions they can take to move the process forward.

"Sustainability becomes increasingly more important to us as a City, a State and a nation because we recognize that our global resources are finite," says Mayor Rawlings-Blake. "By making smart decisions about how we use resources, and involving residents in the process, we can save money, improve quality of life, and position Baltimore to benefit from growing investment and job creation in the green economy."

The report includes a feature on the city's Green and Healthy Homes Initiative that seeks to improve health outcomes for Baltimore households while saving residents money on their energy bills and reducing their environmental impact. The program, which has roots in Baltimore-based Coalition to End Childhood Lead Poisoning, is now being replicated in cities throughout the country.

The benefits of the program exemplify the triple bottom line goals of sustainability; healthier homes lead to families with less asthma and lead paint cases, residents save money on utility bills and find jobs in green trades, while at the same time reducing energy usage and greenhouse gas emissions.

Also featured are the Harbor Connector water taxi service and the Charm City Circulator, recent expansions in Baltimore's public transportation system. The water taxi service from Fells Point to Tide Point averaged 200 trips daily during an 8-month period , thereby reducing traffic congestion and greenhouse gas emissions.

Launched in January 2010, the Charm City Circulator, hybrid buses that offer free bus service throughout Harbor East and downtown, recently celebrated its 100,000th passenger. Service extends to the west to the B&O Railroad museum and soon will include the Johns Hopkins Medical Campus to the north. These sustainable transportation developments help bolster the local economy by expanding options for employees to reach their jobs and for visitors to explore Baltimore, according to the city.

Source: Baltimore Mayor's Office
Writer: Walaika Haskins

As the nation slowly emerges from its economic doldrums Baltimore continues to be one of the cities leading the way to discovery. According to data from the WorldatWork human resources professional association, 2010 will see employers still giving their workers raises. 

In the survey of roughly 2,600 human resource professionals at companies employing some 16 million people ranked the 25 largest metro areas based on planned salary increases for employees with average performance ratings. 

At least 75 percent of companies in those cities, according to WorldatWork, planned to give their employees raises ranging from 2.1 percent to 2.3 percent this year, ranked from highest to lowest:

• Washington, DC
• Tampa
• Boston
• Philadelphia
• Denver
• Chicago
• Cincinnati
• Dallas
• New York
• Baltimore

Source: WorldatWork
Writer: Walaika Haskins

With some $60 million in federal grant money a year, the Institute for Genome Sciences (IGS) at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, a new international research center in Baltimore's BioPark, has multiple positions available for qualified personnel.

IGS scientists research the genomics of infectious diseases, human microbial metagenomics, and human genomics. Because of expanding research and the growth of genomics, IGS has multiple open positions, particularly in the bioinformatics group, the application of information technology to biological data, using computational and statistic techniques. This enables IGS to sequence samples from which people in the bioinformatics department annotate and analyze the complex genomic data.

The company is looking for motivated and talented individuals to join its informatics and scientific tream. IGS' expanding growth has led to multiple openings for software engineers, analysts, postdoc fellows and researchers.

Successful candidates will benefit from a community of interactive research labs, bioinformatics programmers and analysts along with a variety of sequencing, and computational resources available at this world-class institute.

Maryland beat the odds when it came to technology-related jobs in 2009. The state saw growth in the computer systems design and related services adding 5,3000 jobs in 2009 as well as the management, scientific and technical consulting, where 4,500 jobs were added, subsectors and in fact, led the nation in both. 

The 8.7 percent growth in computer systems design and related services and a 13.8% increase in management, scientific and technical consulting meant Maryland accounted for almost half of the jobs added nationally in those areas.

Overall, while 2009 saw every state lose jobs, Maryland retained jobs at a rate better than all but five states. The state lost 41,000 nonfarm payroll jobs at a 1.7 percent rate during the year, compared to the national rate which saw nationwide jobs lost at a 3.0% rate, almost twice as fast.

Industrial sectors leading the state's job creation included health care, federal government and educational services. The health care and social assistance industry added 5,800 jobs for 1.8 percent growth. The fed added 4,100 jobs for 3.2 percent growth and private educational services added 3,600 jobs for 4.9 percent growth.

Without 31,500 job losses in construction and 10,800 jobs losses in financial activities, Maryland would have gained jobs. Construction lost jobs at an 18.5 percent rate and financial activities lost jobs at a 7.3 percent rate.

Source: Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development
Writer: Walaika Haskins

Maryland Energy Sector Partnership, led by the Governor's Workforce Investment Board (GWIB), has been awarded a $5.8 million grant by the U.S. Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration to implement programs that will prepare more than 1,500 Marylanders for green jobs in manufacturing, construction, environmental technology and solar energy.

"In Maryland we have set a goal of creating at least 100,000 green jobs by 2015, and we are working across our State government - along with partners in organized labor, and in the private, academic, and non-profit sectors - to implement specific action items that are designed to create new jobs, advance eco-friendly technologies, and provide more Marylanders with the skills they need to participate and maximize the benefits of a green economy for their own families," says Gov. Martin O'Malley.

"This federal funding not only represents an important step forward towards this goal for Maryland's families, but it also demonstrates the progressive strategy the Obama Administration is taking towards creating jobs for the next generation economy."

The project will involve partnerships among businesses, community colleges, labor apprenticeship programs and the One-Stop Workforce System. It will implement training for both new and incumbent workers to ensure there is a pipeline of skilled workers for jobs in the emerging green economy. Emphasis will be placed on providing opportunities for veterans and reservists, low wage workers and ex-offenders to meet the demands of Maryland employers.

"This grant provides us with a tremendous opportunity to help reach our goal of increasing skills of Maryland workers 20 percent by 2012," Sec. Alexander M. Sanchez says. "It is a much deserved recognition of the O'Malley-Brown Administration's commitment to strengthening and growing the middle class, and shows that "Smart, Green and Growing" will offer real opportunities for Marylanders in the 21st century economy."

The funding will be divided into four consortium efforts:

• Baltimore Regional Green Tech Workers Program. This effort will improve manufacturing sustainability practices, waste stream management and "lean to green" practices in the manufacturing sector. This project will train 705 incumbent and new workers in two tracks - the Green Worker Training Program for new, entry-level manufacturing positions, and Purdue University's Green Workforce Training Certificate program for incumbent workers with intermediate skills. The program will offer three levels of certification provide through the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) and M-Tech programs at the University of Maryland, working with local community colleges.
• Green Training for Energy Efficient Advancement. This partnership of workforce boards, community colleges, building and trades organization and labor unions will train 850 workers to retrofit residential, commercial and industrial buildings. This project will meet the need for skilled green construction and trades workers expected to be needed in the Baltimore-Washington region to meet demands for work resulting from investments funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), building related to the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) program, and increased energy initiatives of major utilities to comply with the Empower Maryland legislation.
• Chesapeake Area Consortium for Higher Education (CACHE): Institute for Environmental Careers. This partnership of workforce investment boards, four community colleges and leaders from the private sector and governments in counties surrounding the Chesapeake Bay will train 210 students with community college credit courses leading to certificates in environmental technology. It is designed to help workers take advantage of the environmental technology careers that are projected to grow around the Bay.
• Go Solar! Regional Partnership. This business-driven consortium will utilize existing renewable energy curriculum, mostly from the Institute for Environmental Careers' existing courses. IBEW Local 26 and IEC-Chesapeake will act as entry-level service providers. They will collaborate with Goodwill Industries, Job Corps, correctional facilities and existing businesses to train 480 new and incumbent workers.

"We are projecting that at least 70 percent of the Marylanders trained through these programs will be placed into a related job within the three-year grant period," says Eric M. Seleznow, GWIB Executive Director. "These programs also address an immediate need to help dislocated workers, particularly those in jobs that will never come back, to obtain the new skills they need to re-enter the workforce and participate in the new green economy."

This latest grant follows a $4 million grant awarded by USDOL in November to the MidAtlantic Regional Collaboration (MARC) Green Consortium, headed by DLLR's Division of Workforce Development and Adult Learning, to define the regional green economy and develop a workforce investment plan to support it. That consortium includes the Virginia Employment Commission, the District of Columbia Department of Employment Services, the District of Columbia's Workforce Investment Council, the Maryland Governor's Workforce Investment Board and the Virginia Workforce Council.

Source: U.S. Department of Labor
Writer: Walaika Haskins