Baltimore still has funds for hiring subsidy

The city of Baltimore wants small businesses to know that funds are still available for a program that will reimburse them $6,000 for hiring city residents.

A city subsidy program, started during the coronavirus pandemic, targets businesses with fewer than 100 employees that are located within the city and are women or minority-owned. The program reimburses up to $6,000 for an employee’s wages. Businesses are limited to three subsidies for employees, or $18,000 total.

Joseph Kim, who oversees the program within the Mayor’s Office of Employment Development, said the Small and Minority and/or Women-owned Business Wage Subsidy program has been a lifeline for both businesses and residents.

Kim said the program started with more than $2.8 million in funding, which largely came from the city’s federal pandemic relief funds. Of that, about $1.5 million has been distributed so far.

“Small businesses are the backbone of the economy,” Kim said. “So helping them hire people is definitely helping Baltimore residents and small businesses to get through this pandemic.”

According to U.S. census data, Baltimore lags behind Maryland’s overall rate of workforce participation and employment. That means comparatively fewer Baltimoreans participate in the workforce — actively working or looking for work — and those people are having a harder time finding work or holding a job than elsewhere in the state.

Kim explained that residents hired under this program are supposed to be unemployed or underemployed and their minimum wages, once hired, are supposed to be $15 an hour, but most participating businesses appear to be paying workers more. According to statistics provided by the Mayor’s Office of Employment Development, those businesses reported paying an average of $19.45 an hour.

Almost 500 businesses have been preapproved for the program, which has helped pay the wages of 309 employees to date, and 96% of businesses surveyed said they had retained those employees beyond 10 weeks. To qualify, businesses must employ 100 or fewer workers. Kim said other cities have developed similar hiring programs. Baltimore Gas & Electric Co. also contributed $240,000 to the subsidy program, Kim said.

The program will continue until the funds are exhausted — though Kim would like to see the subsidy continue if possible.

“If we can get funding, we have the willpower to make it permanent,” he said.

Kim said the city has proof of business and hiring requirements for the subsidy, but because it targets small businesses, there are comparatively fewer documents needed for the money.

“The program itself is designed to have less hoops. A lot of grants given out during the pandemic required a lot of documents and a lot of proving,” said Kim, explaining that those can be onerous for businesses with only a few employees.

Business owners who are interested in learning more about the program and its requirements can visit the Mayor’s Office of Employment Development online at bit.ly/ bmoresmwb for more information.