📅 Thursday, May 28, 2026
🕛 Time: 12:00 PM – 6:00 PM

Location

University of Baltimore – Welcome Center
1420 N. Charles St.
Baltimore, MD 21201

 

About the Day

The 3rd Annual Baltimore Neighborhood Economics Lab is a space to step back, reflect, and engage with what is truly shaping our neighborhood economies.
In a moment of shifting policies, rising costs, and growing uncertainty, this gathering brings together residents, entrepreneurs, public sector leaders, philanthropy, and community partners to explore the forces that influence
how neighborhoods grow, stabilize, or struggle, especially in historically Black communities navigating persistent racial wealth gaps.

Throughout the day, participants will move between grounding conversations, practitioner-led dialogue, and interactive sessions designed to surface both challenges and possibilities. From public safety and business transitions to informal entrepreneurship and the cost of capital, the Lab focuses on the dynamics that often sit just outside traditional economic development conversations, but deeply impact everyday life. This is not a typical conference. It is a working space, designed for listening, questioning, and engaging acrossperspectives.

Participants can expect to: 

• Gain a deeper understanding of the realities shaping neighborhood economies.
• Hear from leaders and practitioners working at the intersection of these issues.
• Engage in thoughtful dialogue with others across sectors and lived experiences.
• Leave with new insights, connections, and a clearer sense of what it takes to build more resilient andequitable communities.

At its core, the Neighborhood Economics Lab is about creating the conditions for more honest conversations and more intentional action toward building economies that work for everyone

Inside the Day

12:00 PM – 1:00 PM
Lunch & Networking
Connect with others across neighborhoods, sectors, and experiences while sharing a meal before the day’s sessions.

Featured Conversations

1:00 PM – 1:30 PM | Fireside Chat with Brooke Lierman (Maryland State Comptroller)
The State of the Economy—From the Ground Up

We begin the day with a grounding conversation with the State Comptroller, offering a unique lens into the economic forces shaping our communities. Drawing from statewide data, revenue trends, and real-time indicators, this discussion will move beyond headlines to unpack what is actually happening in the economy and how those shifts are impacting households, small businesses, and neighborhoods, particularly in communities facing long-standing economic disparities.

This conversation will connect the broader economic landscape to the lived realities on the ground, helping to frame the day’s sessions on public safety, business transitions, informal economic activity, and the cost of capital. By translating complex economic signals into tangible implications, this fireside chat will provide both context and clarity, setting the stage for deeper dialogue and collective problem-solving throughout the Lab.

2:45 PM – 3:30 PM | Fireside Chat with Otis Rolley (President and CEO, Baltimore Development Corporation)
From Strategy to Neighborhood Reality

Join a conversation with the CEO of the Baltimore Development Corporation as we explore how citywide economic development strategy connects to the lived realities of neighborhoods.

From public safety and small business growth to access to capital and the challenge of vacant spaces, this discussion will unpack what is driving momentum, where gaps remain, and what it will take to ensure that investment translates into lasting opportunity across Baltimore’s communities.

Grounded in both data and on-the-ground experience, this conversation will set the stage for deeper dialogue throughout the day.

Session Lineup

The Hidden Economy: Power, Precarity, and Possibility
From solo entrepreneurs to informal businesses, much of the economy operates in plain sight but outside traditional systems. This session uncovers how these actors sustain neighborhoods, and what it means to recognize and support them more intentionally.

The Debt Trap: How Capital Drains Our Communities
Access to capital should build wealth, but too often, it does the opposite. This session explores how high-cost debt and misaligned financial systems impact small businesses and households, and what it would take to create capital that truly supports communities.

The Silver Tsunami: Who Will Own Our Neighborhood Businesses?
A generation of small business owners is preparing to step away, many without a plan. This session dives into the urgent challenge and opportunity of business transitions, and what it will take to preserve neighborhood assets, jobs, and community wealth.

Public Safety & Neighborhood Economies
The city has made real progress in public safety, but what comes next? This session explores how those gains translate into lasting economic opportunity, and what it takes for safer neighborhoods to become stronger, more vibrant local economies.

To view full session details, speakers, and facilitators, click here.

📌 Things to Know

University of Baltimore 
1420 N. Charles St.
Baltimore, MD 21201

Parking:

• Fitzgerald Garage – 80 W. Oliver Street
• Maryland Avenue Garage – 1319 Maryland Avenue
  Both are a short walk to the Welcome Center.

Getting There:

Light Rail: Mt. Royal / Cultural Center stop
MTA Bus routes serve the area
Rideshare drop-off: Maryland Ave & W. Mt. Royal Ave

💡 Additional arrival details will be shared ahead of the event.