BALTIMORE, MD (June 8, 2022) – The Maryland Department of Commerce has announced that the Board of Public Works today approved Montgomery County Economic Development Corporation (MCEDC) as a new fund manager to provide loans through the state’s Small, Minority and Women-Owned Business Account, which receives 1.5 percent of video lottery terminal revenue from Maryland casinos. Since 2013, the account has approved more than 860 loans for a total of $92.3 million, projecting to create more than 4,000 jobs and retain nearly 6,000 more in Maryland.

Created with the small business owner in mind, the program uses proceeds from local casinos to assist small, minority, and women-owned businesses located in targeted areas surrounding Rocky Gap in Allegany County; Maryland Live in Anne Arundel County; Horseshoe Casino in Baltimore City; Hollywood Casino Perryville in Cecil County; National Harbor in Prince George’s County; and Ocean Downs in Worcester County.

“We are proud to partner with Montgomery County to deliver these much-needed funds to businesses across our state,” said Maryland Commerce Secretary Mike Gill. “Small businesses continue to be our economy’s backbone, and expanding this program’s reach will ensure that we are helping those who continue to drive Maryland’s economic growth.”

MCEDC will operate its Accelerating Community Excellence (ACE) Loan fund, a program designed to assist businesses especially in underserved communities. The ACE fund will provide $1.5 million in financial assistance to eligible businesses in the state and within Montgomery County. MCEDC has partnered with the Latino Economic Development Center (LEDC) to be the program’s fiduciary agent.

“We are excited to be a fund manager partner in this important Maryland program and bring additional state funding to support our growing Montgomery County small, minority and women-owned businesses,” said MCEDC President & CEO Benjamin H. Wu. “With the largest number of Maryland small businesses located in Montgomery County, our new ACE program expands our ability to help meet their critical need for access to capital. I’m particularly excited that our LEDC collaboration will extend our MCEDC reach and impact in local underserved communities.”

MCEDC joins eight other fund managers across the state, including Anne Arundel Economic Development Corporation; Baltimore County Department of Economic and Workforce Development; City of Baltimore Development Corporation; FSC First; Howard County Economic Development Authority; Maryland Capital Enterprises, Inc.; Meridian Management Group, Inc.; and Tri County Council for Western Maryland.

Fund managers are required to deploy at least half of their allocations in targeted areas which surround Maryland’s six casinos. The remaining money can be used across the rest of the state. Maryland Commerce, which administers the program, will allocate the new video lottery terminal revenues that accumulate in the fund yearly. Both current and new fund managers will be eligible for the subsequent allocations.