Frederick County Growth Opportunity Strategy to Lay Foundation for Job Attraction and Creation

Frederick County is a good place to do business, with a strong diverse industry base, substantial assets, and opportunities for businesses and job growth, according to an analysis by the Jacob France Institute of the University of Baltimore and TEConomy Partners. The analysis is part of the Frederick County Growth Opportunity (GO) Strategy, which was released today by the Frederick County Office of Economic Development.

“I’m excited about seizing the opportunities identified by the GO Strategy,” said County Executive Jan Gardner. “The recommendations will strengthen our economic foundations, attract jobs and position us for the future. Communities that lead the way with economic growth share one common trait: they developed a vision and a plan to get there. The GO Strategy will help us to focus on where we want Frederick County to go in the future.”

As part of this effort, the Jacob France Institute-TEConomy team identified the county’s key economic development assets and core industry clusters, and developed a set of strategic priority areas and key action items. The plan outlines steps to ensure that Frederick County’s economic development measures make the county a leader in the region.

Helen Propheter, director of OED said, “The research also showed that Frederick County has one of the fastest growing and diversified economies in the State of Maryland and a has skilled and educated workforce with competitive labor costs, among several other positive findings. The next phase of our efforts are to focus on how to become an even stronger regional technology and innovation driver, especially in our targeted industries.”
Recommendations focused on four strategic priority areas – workforce, infrastructure and placemaking, targeting core industry cluster growth, and branding. Looking forward to the next 10 years, these strategies will strengthen Frederick County’s economic foundations, build upon the county’s mix of industry clusters and enable the county to sustain the diversity of its industry and employment base, while raising its performance in driving high-quality economic growth.

The report is available at www.discoverfrederickmd.com/data. For more information, contact the Frederick County Office of Economic Development at info@discoverfrederickmd.com or 301-600-1058.