On Wednesday, March 16th, we hosted a live conversation with County Executive Marc Elrich.
County Executive Elrich has been focused on an overarching vision of making Montgomery County a more equitable and inclusive place to live and work. Since becoming County Executive he has launched the Early Care Initiative – to provide more access to pre-k education to help improve kindergarten readiness, signed the landmark Racial Equity and Social Justice Bill, making Montgomery County the first County in Maryland to do so, and launched the 4Business Initiative, which increased resources for small businesses, and reformed the County’s procurement process to increase contracts with local businesses and make it more user-friendly. Under his leadership, Worksource Montgomery has been improved to better provide job search and training help for county residents. He also negotiated an MOU with the University system to bring a graduate research presence to the county to support the robust life sciences industry located in the county.
As County Executive, he has maintained the County’s AAA bond rating and brought the budget reserves to 10% for the first time ever. In 2021, there has been a record $18 billion invested in Montgomery County companies – a fourfold increase over the prior year. Marc led the County through the pandemic by making science informed decisions, not wavering on his commitment to protect the public health and to do so equitably. At the same time, he helped mitigate the pandemic impacts, providing financial support to businesses, non-profits and individuals under his leadership. Montgomery County has one of the highest vaccination rates of large jurisdictions across the country and the County’s death rate from COVID-19 is nearly a third lower that the national average.
County Executive Elrich previously served three terms (12 years) on the Montgomery County Council as an at-large member. He served as a Takoma Park City Councilmember on the Takoma Park City Council from 1987-2006.
