By Megan Sayles
AFRO Staff Writer
msayles@afro.com
The Greater Baltimore Committee (GBC) held its 70th Annual Meeting at the Renaissance Baltimore Harborplace Hotel on Sept. 12, marking seven decades of economic and civic leadership in the region. The gathering convened business, community and elected leaders and reflected on the history of the organization while highlighting its vision for the future.
The celebration comes two years after GBC’s release of its multi-year agenda for the region, which outlines 12 initiatives to advance economic opportunity, transportation and infrastructure and collective impact.
“What is so special about tonight? It is a reconciliation of our past with the last two years since we announced our multi-year agenda,” said Mark Anthony Thomas, CEO and president of GBC. “We’ve set a new foundation, we have integrated new organizations, we’ve reset our governance, and we built a game plan.”
GBC unveiled its multi-year agenda at its 2023 Annual Meeting. The release followed a restructuring of the organization after its merger with the former Economic Alliance of Greater Baltimore in 2022.
Since then, under the leadership of Thomas, the organization has devised a 10-year economic development plan, launched a branding initiative and successfully spearheaded an effort to secure a federal Tech Hub designation for the Greater Baltimore region.
Most recently, GBC integrated UpSurge, a tech ecosystem builder, under its umbrella and relaunched the BLocal economic impact initiative.
“There is such a vicious work underway to ensure that we are making sure every high-growth and high-potential startup and entrepreneur has the support they need to thrive in this market,” said Thomas. “This future also includes, now, BLocal. We’ll be galvanizing companies to hire, to buy and invest locally to keep all of our region’s economic power in this market.”
During the meeting, Maryland Governor Wes Moore gave remarks, recognizing GBC’s collaboration with the state and the city to address the vacancy crisis in Baltimore. The effort, dubbed Reinvest Baltimore, seeks to eliminate pockets of vacant properties and revitalize neighborhoods.
“We chose to do something really crazy: work together… to actually work together and say that we are going to work in partnership with the city and the state. We are going to make sure that the private sector is involved. We are going to make sure that our social entrepreneurs and community organizations have a seat at the table,” said Moore. “In just this time, in two and a half years, that number of vacants has now been cut by over 20 percent with a goal that in 13 years we will eliminate the entire vacant housing inventory.”
Baltimore Mayor Brandon M. Scott also spoke at the gathering, praising GBC for co-founding the CollegeBound Foundation in 1988. Since then, the foundation has supported tens of thousands of low-income and first-generation Baltimore City students, including Scott himself, with scholarships and grants to pursue higher education.
“The most important words that I will say tonight are, ‘thank you,’” said Scott. “Thank you to the GBC for 70 years of believing in, investing in and building Baltimore— and not just in business, but in community and even in education.”
