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Mayor Rawlings-Blake Issues Executive Order to Encourage Local Hiring by City Contractors 

“Employ Baltimore” offers new cash flow incentives for construction firms to hire locally and gives businesses access to a full menu of training and  workforce support resources 

Today, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake signed the Employ Baltimore Executive Order, encouraging all contractors awarded Baltimore City contracts to employ skilled and qualified city residents to help meet their workforce needs. The Executive Order, applicable to city contracts entered into on August 8, 2011 or later, is designed to facilitate businesses’ access to workforce support services and to ensure that city dollars contribute to the local economy.

The Employ Baltimore Executive Order requires all business-awarded contracts of $50,000 or more, except for emergency and professional services, to contact the Mayor’s Office of Employment Development (MOED) within two weeks of the contract award to schedule an appointment to review their workforce needs and become familiar with the menu of employment services available through MOED. Companies that receive construction contract awards of $300,000 or more from the city may be eligible for a reduction in or an early release from their retainage fees for compliance with the executive order, which will increase their monthly cash flow.

Contractors must submit all job openings created by the awarded contracts to MOED so that they may be posted exclusively through Baltimore City’s local one-stop career center delivery system for seven days prior to being publically advertised. This will give MOED an opportunity to identify qualified city residents first to fill these jobs.

“Not only will local residents benefit from the opportunity to vie for jobs created by city‑awarded contracts, but companies doing business in Baltimore will also benefit from working with the Office of Employment Development to access valuable services that will lead to the hiring of a well-prepared workforce,” said Mayor Rawlings-Blake.

“Today’s announcement by the mayor represents a step forward in providing jobs for city residents,” City Council President Bernard C. “Jack” Young said. “With the mayor’s executive order and my local hiring resolution we’re making progress toward ensuring that all Baltimoreans have access to much-needed jobs.”

"Our city's new Employ Baltimore Executive Order provides clear direction to companies doing business in Baltimore that it is in their best interest to hire locally whenever possible," said M.J. "Jay" Brodie, president of the Baltimore Development Corporation. "BDC strongly supports Mayor Rawlings-Blake's efforts to provide support services to new businesses that will help lead to the growth of the local economy."

“The Employ Baltimore Executive Order signed by Mayor Rawlings-Blake is a positive and significant milestone toward increasing the number of job opportunities for Baltimore City residents,” said John Ashworth, Baltimore Workforce Investment Board chair, University of Maryland Medical System’s senior vice president for network development, and associate dean at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. “It will also help businesses gain access to well-prepared members of our local workforce, as well as multiple and beneficial support services offered by the Mayor’s Office of Employment Development.”

Kurt Sommer, director of the Baltimore Integration Partnership, a new collaborative effort to expand opportunities for low-income residents, said, "Employ Baltimore creates a great new framework to better connect city investment to jobs for area residents. Through this linkage, limited city resources can have a broader impact, residents can access new opportunities, and businesses can grow and strengthen their workforce."

Job Opportunities Task Force Executive Director Jason Perkins-Cohen added, “This is a significant step toward creating more opportunities for Baltimore residents. It will further facilitate the development of a marketplace where employers can go to find the skilled workers that Baltimore has to offer and residents can go to find a job working in their own community.”

In order to make the Employ Baltimore Executive Order as effective as possible, MOED will expand its efforts to promote awareness of its workforce resources to all businesses that express an interest in submitting a proposal to the city. As all bids are made available to contractors, MOED will obtain the lists and contact the businesses to share information about MOED’s business services.

The executive order requires compliance measures. Companies will not receive their first progress payment under the contract unless and until a meeting has been scheduled with MOED. All contractors will be required to submit a report on June 30 and December 31 of each contract year (or at the end of the contract period) indicating the number of city residents on its payroll. Failure to submit this report is cause for withholding the final payment and any portion of the retainage amount.

For more information about the Employ Baltimore Executive Order, visit www.oedworks.com