Maryland business owners connect with prime contractors at Minority and Small Business Outreach

BALTIMORE -- More than 800 Maryland business owners flocked to downtown Baltimore for the governor's Minority and Small Business Outreach to connect with dozens of prime contractors.

On the second floor of the Hilton Hotel downtown, hundreds networked, shopped their business and listened to key sessions on how to tap into $7 billion worth of state government contracts.

"We bring together small minority, women and veteran-owned businesses and it's really an opportunity to start a game changer for these small businesses," said Tony Bridges, the Assistant Secretary of the Maryland Department of Transportation.

Through a variety of workshops, the summit aims to go step by step in explaining the procurement process for a small business to grow with certainty and funding as it appeals to prime contractors. 

"Because with a state contract, you know that it's going to last for a couple of years, you can start staffing up, make sure that you have the resources, the technology because you know that over time you are going to get this long term contract and the funds that come along with that," Bridges said. 

West North Avenue Development Authority  

And then there are newer entities like the West North Avenue Development Authority, which was created after millions of dollars in funding from Governor Wes Moore's administration to bring a renaissance to the once famed West North Avenue corridor.

"We are 2.7 miles from MICA which is near I-83 to the 3200 block of West North Avenue including both Coppin State University and the Maryland Institute College of Art," said Theresa Stephens, from the West North Avenue Development Authority. 

In re-imagining this renaissance, the West North Avenue Development Authority is appealing to these small minority-owned businesses to become a part of this community, helping to build a better future for West Baltimore.

"Governor Moore thought enough of West Baltimore to support this effort because there really has been a vacancy in that community, one that needed to be uplifted," Stephens said. 

"And so now that they are focused on one specific part of the city, well what are the resources? Who are the small businesses that can help them to do the things that they need to do in that small area of the city to actually rebuild and make it the renaissance that it once was?" Bridges added.