HopkinsLocal Makes Progress in Goals to Build, Hire, and Buy Locally

Dear Students, Faculty, and Staff:

Over the past two years, Johns Hopkins has embraced a call from our community to leverage our strengths as an anchor institution—including our hiring and purchasing power—to promote the economic well-being of our city. In late 2015, we launched HopkinsLocal, an initiative aimed at harnessing our economic activity to promote business growth and employment in the city. This joint effort by the university and health system has helped ensure we focus on building a stronger Baltimore as we build, hire, and buy.

At the end of the first year of this three-year initiative, we are encouraged by meaningful progress across our institution while acknowledging that our work has just begun. You can read about our efforts during fiscal year 2016 in the HopkinsLocal Year One Progress Report. Some highlights from this first year include:

• $55 million in construction spending with businesses certified as minority-owned, women-owned, or disadvantaged;
• 304 people from the city’s most distressed communities and campus-area communities hired into targeted positions;
• A nearly $5 million increase in goods and services purchased from Baltimore-based companies; and
• 119 individuals with criminal records hired at Johns Hopkins’ Baltimore City locations, including 41 among the HopkinsLocal focus area new hires.

As we accomplished these meaningful gains, we also learned which systems, processes, and areas need to be strengthened to advance our efforts. We will build on the lessons of our first year and seek new approaches, partnerships, and investments to reach our overarching goals in the next two years. We will also work with 24 other organizations in the BLocal program to leverage our collective purchasing and hiring power in a way that supports the city’s economy.

Dedicated staff across our construction, hiring, and purchasing areas have worked exceedingly hard to implement HopkinsLocal and set us on a path to progress. We also appreciate all members of our Johns Hopkins community who advance our economic goals when they choose local vendors, interview city residents for job openings, or welcome summer interns to build their skills for the future. It will take all of us to fulfill Johns Hopkins’ vital role as an anchor institution and promote the economic well-being of the city we call home.

Sincerely,

Ronald J. Daniels
President
Johns Hopkins University

Ronald R. Peterson
President, Johns Hopkins Health System
EVP, Johns Hopkins Medicine