Local leaders celebrate Johns Hopkins’ impact on Baltimore

Leaders from Johns Hopkins, state and city governments and the local business community gathered on the JHU Homewood campus Thursday morning to celebrate the success HopkinsLocal initiative to expand the economic impact that the university and the health system have in Baltimore.

Since its launch in 2015, HopkinsLocal’s four-pronged mission of “Build, Lease, Buy, Invest” has resulted in the university and health system spending $1.05 billion with Baltimore businesses, allocating $360 million local businesses and $308 million to minority-owned businesses. for design and build projects, employing more than 4,200 local residents and allocating more than $287 million to diverse and women-owned investment firms.

“As we approach HopkinsLocal’s 10th anniversary next year, it’s clear that our commitment to Baltimore has never been stronger,” said Johns Hopkins Director of Inclusion and Economic Impact Sona Gandhi. “Today we see the success of these efforts, not only in terms of numbers, but also in terms of people who have found a job, local entrepreneurs who have developed their businesses and the partnerships we have made in the community “.

State Sen. Cory McCray, a Democrat who represents the 45th District in the Maryland General Assembly, praised Hopkins for its community impact on education with the Henderson-Hopkins School, on city housing by incentivizing employees to buy homes in Baltimore, and on job opportunities. the city’s largest private employer. He also commended the university and health system for using their purchasing power to benefit local businesses.

“There’s not a day that I wake up that I don’t put Baltimore first. And that’s exactly what I see demonstrated when we talk about HopkinsLocal,” McCray said. “Every time I look, you’re betting on Baltimore. Thank you, thank you, thank you to Johns Hopkins for betting on Baltimore.”

President of Johns Hopkins University Ron Daniels told attendees at the Levering Hall event that he, too, personally bet on Baltimore when he moved to the city in 2009.

“And I feel so proud to be here and to be a part of it and to understand — like so many of us at Hopkins — from the very beginning: This is how Baltimore goes, this is how Hopkins goes; that we are inextricably linked to one. another,” Daniels said. “And so from the moment we got here, the question was, ‘How can we pull off that bet on Baltimore? How can we deepen our ties to Baltimore?’

HopkinsLocal’s impact is a direct result of intentional efforts to ensure that Hopkins employees are empowered to hire or purchase to consider local perspectives, and that accountability measures are in place to track how often they do so.

“It’s about empowering and increasing opportunities for the Baltimore community,” he said Theodore DeWeesedean of the medical school and CEO of Johns Hopkins Medicine. “When you do those things together, you start to move the needle.”

Lisa Ishiisenior vice president of operations for the Johns Hopkins Health System, said that reorienting purchasing and hiring processes toward a more local focus “hasn’t been easy,” but that continued growth in hiring and procurement is expected as more divisions take advantage by HopkinsLocal resources.

“If you look at the trajectory over time, we see an acceleration,” Ishii said. “So we know we can achieve even more in the next 10 years than we did in the last 10 years.”

Representatives of several businesses attended the event to testify how they benefited from this collaboration.

Debra Nelson, career services manager for Goodwill Industries, said Johns Hopkins has hired more than 100 of its clients, and those individuals have maintained a 96 percent retention rate in their Hopkins jobs.

Matthew J. Williams, co-owner of Mount Royal Soaps, praised Hopkins for hiring his company Remington to supply hand sanitizer to the healthcare system, a contract that helped expand the company from a 200-foot manufacturing facility square on the opening of a 10,000 square foot Manufacturing Space near Druid Hill Park.

“I owe a great debt of gratitude to Johns Hopkins,” Williams said.

Cheo Hurley, president of THG Companies, said she is a 2017 graduate of BLocal BUILD College, a Hopkins-supported program designed to help local minority- and women-owned businesses excel. Hurley’s general contracting and construction company in Baltimore was able to expand because of the subcontracts he won through companies such as Mahogany Inc., one of Johns Hopkins’ largest minority contractors.

He said the company has parlayed its experience and connections with Hopkins into about $6 million in Hopkins-related contracts, deals that allow it to pay its employees a living wage and should help it become a prime contractor .

“We work here on campus, we work at the hospital, we work at the (Applied Physics Laboratory),” Hurley said. “We need encouragement, we need help, we need cash flow, we need contracts, we need all these things, and I’m glad to see that Johns Hopkins” is providing that.

Maria Harris Tildonvice president of government, community and economic partnerships at Johns Hopkins, encouraged all Hopkins departments to take advantage of the resources available through HopkinsLocal. This includes TealBook, a tool that can match certified suppliers with Hopkins purchasing agencies that buy products, equipment and services.

“We need each of you to actively support the next phase of HopkinsLocal, whether it’s through acquisition, hiring or partnering with local businesses,” Harris Tildon said. “Together we will continue to create opportunities, build strong partnerships and support the communities we serve. Let’s continue the conversation and ensure HopkinsLocal remains a driving force for positive change in Baltimore.”