'Grow Baltimore' Reports Offer New Findings on Why People Move to Baltimore
May 21, 2015
Contact: University Relations
Phone: 410.837.5739
The Baltimore Neighborhood Indicators Alliance-Jacob France Institute has released a series of reports—"Grow Baltimore: Who's Moving, Where and Why"—which offers details about factors that influence population trends in the city. These efforts, plus those of Live Baltimore through its new Way To Stay website, featuring resources to assist families as they explore local education options, are part of a trend to encourage local residents to stay in Baltimore, and to welcome new families to the city.
In 2011, Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake announced a goal to increase Baltimore’s population by 10,000 families by 2020, known as the Grow Baltimore Initiative. Although the city suffered six decades of population decline, today Baltimore shows encouraging signs of population growth. The Grow Baltimore Initiative aims to harness research, community input, and collaboration to amplify the elements of Baltimore life that attract residents and provide resources to support current residents for a lifetime.
Seema D. Iyer, associate director of the Jacob France Institute in the University of Baltimore's Merrick School of Business, said the release of the series of reports provide community stakeholders with vital information to guide attraction and retention programs to move the city closer to the Grow Baltimore goal.
"Baltimore City has a lot of great qualities that attract new residents every day," Iyer said. "People make decisions about moving based on many complex issues, and these reports provide a framework for strategically addressing residents’ real concerns about making Baltimore their home."
The research conducted by Baltimore Neighborhood Indicators Alliance and Live Baltimore illustrated several key factors that drive individuals' and families' decisions to move to ("pull") and from ("push") Baltimore.
"Pull" Factors: Elements associated with Baltimore that attract residents to city living and encourage them to stay:
- Growing Employment Sectors and Anchor Institutions
- Location (i.e., proximity to Washington, D.C. and the mid-Atlantic region)
- Sense of Place and Community Associated with Urban Living
- Cultural and Economic Diversity
- Growing Population of New Americans
- Large Stock of Affordable Housing
"Push" Factors: Elements associated with Baltimore that dissuade residents from city living or cause them to consider relocating:
- Public Safety (particularly property crime)
- School Quality
- Transportation Access and Connectivity
- Government Customer Service
- Taxes and "City-Living Premiums" (e.g., higher car insurance rates)
- Housing Quality and Size (particularly relevant to growing families and middle-income retirees)
The data gathered for these initiatives play a crucial role in understanding how Baltimore can both hold on to its current population, and position itself to add new residents in the coming years, officials say.
"The resources available to families through Way to Stay would not have been possible without the research provided by BNIA," said Steven Gondol, executive director of Live Baltimore. "We can now target our outreach in specific neighborhoods while also sharing otherwise hidden assets to families wanting to raise children in the city. This intervention strategy will allow us to accelerate our goal of growing the city through family retention."
Research for the report and development of the website were funded by the Goldseker Foundation.
BNIA-JFI began in 1998 as a partnership between the Annie E. Casey Foundation and the Association of Baltimore Area Grantmakers. In 2006, BNIA joined with UB’s Jacob France Institute in an expansion of its capabilities. BNIA-JFI annually prepares the Vital Signs report, which tracks quality of life measures for Baltimore neighborhoods. BNIA-JFI also provides additional services and resources for those who seek data, information, and analysis about Baltimore. The complete Vital Signs reports, along with a separate executive summary, data, maps and other research by BNIA-JFI, are available at www.bniajfi.org.
Learn more about the Merrick School of Business.
The University of Baltimore is a member of the University System of Maryland and comprises the College of Public Affairs, the Merrick School of Business, the UB School of Law and the Yale Gordon College of Arts and Sciences.