Frederick County’s Office of Economic Development (OED) is the catalyst for commercial growth.
Economic development is about relationships and OED works with their partners to make it easy for businesses to start, stay, and expand in Frederick County.
They provide businesses with tools such as site selection assistance, redevelopment services, incentives and workforce development assistance. They can also act as an ombudsman for the business community to ensure their business succeeds in Frederick County for many years to come.
OED has come to be known as the gateway to Frederick for businesses, making the transition to business ownership in the area a seamless one for both those new to the county and those new to business ownership.
As one of our Mission Level Partners in Trust and cohabitants of the ROOT Building here in downtown Frederick, we at the Chamber have had the unique opportunity to partner with the OED team on several initiatives. We consider them our government partners as we work to support and enhance the Frederick County business community.
Rick Weldon, President and CEO had this to say about the team at OED, “There are some professional relationships we develop in the course of our work that extend far beyond the day-to-day transactions. That’s how it is between the Chamber and OED. Our two teams have built a mutually-dependent and cross functional relationship that is natural, seamless and meaningful. I consider Helen a trusted friend, we’ve known each other and worked together for more years than we’d care to admit. If you want to know what makes Frederick County so special, it’s always about the work relationships and collaboration.”
We’re proud to share this month’s member of the month with you and hope you take a few moments to learn more about the Office of Economic Development.
Photo Courtesy Frederick County Office of Economic Development
A Q&A with the Frederick County Office of Economic Development
For those thinking of starting a business in Frederick, what would you say makes our county attractive for businesses and new community members?
We are a dynamic and diverse county with a $12 billion dollar economy that boasts a high concentration of highly educated workers, a world-class bioscience and advanced technology sector, and a solid manufacturing and agriculture tradition that blends our rich heritage.
With a strategic location, lower cost of business relative to other locations in the region and a comprehensive transportation network, Frederick County is a prime location for businesses. Our softer side of amiable country, small-town and suburban streets bordered with attractive housing options, a high-performing public school system and a low crime rate with state-of-the-art healthcare make this one of the best places to live in America.
For those who already call Frederick home and do business in this area, how does OED support them?
Our Business Retention & Expansion Team or as refer to them as the Connectors team is all about supporting those businesses who already call Frederick home.
The continued success of our businesses is essential to the people and to the economy of our community and these experts work to ensure this economic vitality. We connect the businesses with free services like marketing support through our PR Frederick online press release service, video pitch services to create a video to sell your business or a new product line. We have a podcast room for businesses to use to conduct on-going podcasts to generate new customers, and we also have monthly networking events and trainings to get connected and keep your business on the cutting edge. We take teams of partners – workforce services – state commerce staff and of course our own staff – to visit our businesses to check on their health, provide them with resources and assist with anything we can, and once a year we dedicate a week to visiting over 100 businesses to show them how much we appreciate them.
We will be celebrating 21 years of Business Appreciation Week this fall.
Our minority business outreach is strong and getting stronger through our Diversity and Inclusion program, including our monthly EmPower networking events.
Our Small Business Development Center (SBDC) and Women’s Business Center (WBC) continue to partner with us to provide resources to entrepreneurs and the small business community.
What might people not know about OED?
Through 2020 our office has been working with two exceptional businesses to have them open their doors in our county! Both Kite Pharma and the Kroger/Ocado Fulfilment Center are currently under construction and both will bring hundreds of new jobs to our county.
OED is also one of the founding partners of the Maryland National Capital Region Economic Development Alliance (MNCREDA), joining forces with Anne Arundel, Charles, Howard, Montgomery and Prince George’s counties, providing regional collaboration committed to growing a stronger Maryland Capital Region.
What upcoming OED programs and initiatives are you most excited about?
Just as our businesses have pivoted, OED has done some of our own pivoting to continue to provide the services, programs, initiatives and signature events that OED is known for, as well as adding opportunities for Frederick County’s businesses. In 2020 and well into 2021, our team has provided thousands of business grants, well over $12M in grants to our business community. We currently have four (4) grants we plan to work on through this summer in addition to the Federal dollars we will receive for grants.
Looking ahead in 2021, OED is excited about the next Top 50 publication which will focus on Young Professionals in our Top 50 Under 40! This annual publication shines a spotlight on the businesses and people who make Frederick County’s business community so exceptional! Our Homegrown Frederick publication will be released in June and will once again highlight our direct to consumer farms. Look for the article “A Year In The Life Of A Farmer”.
As Frederick County is a leader in agriculture with more than 188,000 acres of farmland and over 1,300 farms creating an economic impact of $1.6 billion, OED has developed a grant program to improve the economic viability of the agricultural industry by encouraging Frederick County’s agricultural producers to expand or diversify their business operations by creating value added products. The next round for grant applications will open on July 1. In April we’re also growing our Agriculture Team and adding a new member to focus on agriculture.
We are currently partnering with the Frederick Chamber and others for a first ever S.H.E. Week Pitch Contest – it will be the perfect way to end one of the best weeks in Frederick County!
Business Appreciation Week will once again be a virtual event and target those businesses who have gone the distance during the past year. Details will be released later this year. Our FRED Awards and RealShare events are also continuing in a virtual format.
We’re increasing our support to our manufacturing and real estate sectors through marketing, videos and website presence. We’re also adding a podcast room to our ROOT building for businesses and industry professionals to utilize for content marketing. This is joining our Business Pitch Room, a state-of-the art video studio with the latest technology that allows Frederick County businesses to have their business pitch video-taped at no charge by professional audio/visual staff. Business pitches are uploaded to OED’s YouTube page and may be used to raise capital for the business or for marketing purposes.
As you can tell, we’ve got a lot going on this year – some new, some with a new twist – and we will end our calendar year with our Annual Business Reception – our favorite event of the year because it gives us the opportunity to say thank you to our businesses and our partners for making Frederick County THE place to start, stay and expand.
Learn more about OED by visiting their website here: Frederick County Office of Economic Development
Frederick Chamber Insights is a news outlet of the Frederick County Chamber of Commerce. For more information about membership, programs and initiatives, please visit our website.