The Mid-Shore Regional Council (MSRC) utilized the power of its regional allies to aid in pandemic relief throughout Maryland’s Eastern Shore.
It created the Eastern Shore Economic Recovery Project and received $400,000 in funding from the U.S. Economic Development Administration for the project, according to a July 12 Department of Commerce news release.
“When the CARES Act was announced in 2020, we thought we’d get $40,000 to $50,000 in EDA funding. We were pleasantly surprised when EDA awarded $400,000 for this project,” Scott Warner, MSRC executive director, said in the release.
The MSRC’s two workers serve as a regional planning and development organization for the counties of Caroline, Dorchester, and Talbot in Maryland.
The team used 50 questions as it narrowed down to a final survey targeted at business managers, Warner said, according to the release. That data was used to create a database made easily accessible for businesses to help them move forward. Council and businesses will be able to access the data through dashboards, infographics and summary reports.
The MSRC worked to establish public outreach projects for every economic development office to improve economic resilience within the community, the release reported. The tools that were created for each town will be shared with stakeholders and the general public. They included an in-person symposium for regional company executives, talks about the various dashboards and an instructional video with the county economic development directors.
