Local Hiring FAQ

Baltimore City Department of Transportation (DOT) has created new, easy to work with incentives to encourage contractors to hire local residents for the upcoming DOT Uplands Redevelopment construction project and the Baltimore Red Line.

1. What are the incentives?

A. The incentives will help with the costs of training new employees. Contractors and subcontractors will be reimbursed a portion of the cost of training a new employee if the employee was referred by a Baltimore City Workforce Development Program.

B. The reimbursement rate will increase even more if the new employee is hired into one of 9 specific construction trades. The total reimbursement is up to $2.40 per person per hour of training.

2. What are some examples of a Workforce Development Program?

The progams include: Jump Start, Baltimore Trades Guild, Goodwill Industries, Humanim, community colleges or local career and technical education high schools like Edmondson/Westside, Merganthaler, and Carver. Other programs are also eligible. The contractor will contact the Mayor’s Office of Employment Development for training verification.

3. What are the 9 construction trades?

• Backhoe operator
• Concrete finisher (highway or bridge form builder)
• Curb and gutter builder
• Curb and gutter machine operator
• Front-end loader
• Ironworker structural
• Mason structural
• Office engineer
• Pipe layer

These 9 trades were chosen because they are the trades most often used by DOT for construction projects. They will also be required for building the Red Line, so DOT wants to encourage training now for future job opportunities.

4. Why can’t we just mandate that contractors and subcontractors hire local residents?

A portion of the funding for both the Red Line project and many similar projects are federal transportation dollars, which include some restrictions. Those rules prevent the State of Maryland and the City of Baltimore from enacting local hiring laws that might provide preferential treatment to residents of one city or state over residents of another city or state. This does not prohibit offering contractors and subcontractors incentives to hire local residents.

5. What steps are involved to receive reimbursements for training new employees?

A. First, the contractor and/or subcontractor must have jobs to fill. Next, they may contact the Mayor’s Office of Employment Development (MOED) for referral sources or to verify training of an employee they have hired directly from the community.

B. Once MOED is aware of construction job openings, they will contact Workforce Development Programs. Different programs will then refer potential employees to the contractor or subcontractor.

C. If the contractor or subcontractor hires and trains any of the referrals, they will be reimbursed a portion of the training cost. If they hire a referral into one of the 9 construction trades listed above, then the reimbursement rate is increased, as explained above. Contractors and subcontractors will be reimbursed by Baltimore City Department of Transportation.

6. Where can I learn more?

Please contact the Red Line Economic Empowerment Office at 410.396.4147.