County Executive Ball strengthened Howard County’s economy by creating opportunity, investing in and expanding our centers of innovation, attracting new entrepreneurs, and supporting small businesses.
- Hosted the County’s first Local Business Workshop to allow for more County project funds and grants to go to community businesses
- Hosted the County’s first Small Business Summit to support small, minority, women, and veteran owned businesses
- Signed a MOU with the Economic Development Authority for the Howard County Innovation Center in Columbia. The Center is being launched to serve as a nexus of resources for innovation and small, minority, woman, and veteran-owned business creation and support
- Signed an MOU with the Korean incubator, “Born2Global,” to create a soft-landing zone at the Howard County Innovation Center for qualified South Korean startups
- Re-opened the Agricultural Land Preservation Program
- Partnered on “Apprenticeship Day” to help jobseekers learn how to take advantage of a Registered Apprenticeship
- Marked “Business Appreciation Week” with visits to 150 local businesses
- Hosts quarterly roundtables and monthly business visits to continue engaging with the business community
Click here to view our infographic for how we addressed concerns from our listening sessions in the first year in office.
