New Report: Targeted State Investments Can Break Down Barriers to Opportunity
Maryland’s budget provides the clearest reflection of our priorities as a state. Choices about where we invest our shared resources can help or hinder children’s education, economic security for families and communities, and public health and safety. A new report released today by the Maryland Center on Economic Policy examines the relationship between state investments, past policy choices, and the barriers preventing many Marylanders from reaching their full potential, with an emphasis on barriers facing Marylanders of color.
“Our communities and our economy thrive when everyone has access to economic opportunity,” MDCEP Executive Director Benjamin Orr said. “While many of Marylanders’ past choices, like expanding access to health care and investing in quality public schools, have moved us in the right direction, too many in our communities—Black Marylanders and other Marylanders of color, in particular—still face additional barriers.”
The analysis in “Budgeting for Opportunity: How Our Fiscal Policy Choices Can Remove Barriers Facing Marylanders of Color and Advance Shared Prosperity” focuses on three of the largest areas of the state budget: education, health care, and transportation.
The report identifies some of the barriers people of color face in Maryland. For example:
- Black Marylanders are more likely to live in counties with less access to high-quality health care providers. This means they may face higher out-of-pocket costs, have a harder time getting an appointment, or receive lower-quality care.
- Black children in Maryland are more likely to go to school in an aging building in a school district that is funded well below state standards.
- People of color are more likely to face longer commute times. For example, Black workers in southern Prince George’s County spend an average of 55 more hours per year commuting than white workers living in the same area.
The analysis also identifies ways that different choices or additional state investments can remove obstacles and expand opportunity to all Marylanders, such as changing the way school upgrades are financed so that it is easier for lower-income communities to replace outdated school facilities.
View the full report at mdeconomy.org/budgeting-for-opportunity. MDCEP Research Analyst Christopher Meyer will also present the report at the organization’s July 28 policy event, A Blueprint for Broadly Shared Prosperity in Maryland.
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Media Contact
Kali Schumitz, Director of Communications and Partner Engagement
410-412-9105, ext. 701
kschumitz@mdeconomy.org
About Maryland Center on Economic Policy
The Maryland Center on Economic Policy advances innovative policy ideas to foster broad prosperity and help our state be the standard-bearer for responsible public policy. We engage in research, analysis, strategic communications, public education, and grassroots alliances promoting robust debate and greater public awareness of the policy choices Maryland residents face together.
