After a tumultuous 2015 in Baltimore, administrators at Johns Hopkins University wondered what they could do to reaffirm their commitment to and help revitalize the city it calls home.
As the city’s largest private institution, rebuilding and investment efforts were the obvious choice to make an impact. But the university also sought to create lasting opportunities for Baltimore’s most vital asset—its people. It began a program to employ more local workers within the institution itself, but Johns Hopkins trustees—many of them local Baltimore business owners—asked how city businesses could help the effort. And so BLocal, an initiative to build, hire and buy locally, was born.
Led by Johns Hopkins and supported by 25 Baltimore-area businesses, BLocal has committed at least $69 million to the city over the next three years. The goal is to invest not only in local businesses, but also in minority-owned, women-owned, and disadvantaged ones.
Image courtesy of Johns Hopkins University.
Read more about Johns Hopkins’ BLocal initiative for economic enhancement in The Washington Post and The Baltimore Sun.
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