What Our Strategic Plan Revealed About Maryland's NMTC Gap

NMTC-eligible tracts vs. tracts with deployed NMTC investment, Maryland, 2003–2022. Source: CDFI Fund; SB Friedman; Maryland Community Investment Corporation.

Baltimore City needs capital, and it needs a lot of it. Our market analysis, conducted in partnership with SB Friedman Development Advisors as part of MCIC's 2025 Strategic Plan, confirmed just how much: over the more than two-decade history of the New Markets Tax Credit program, roughly $9 of every $10 in NMTC investment directed to Maryland has landed in Baltimore City. That is about $1.15 billion of the $1.28 billion in total NMTC dollars the state has attracted.

That concentration reflects real need. Baltimore City is home to a significant share of Maryland's most distressed census tracts, and the investment it has received has supported meaningful projects. But the data also tells a second story. Fifteen of Maryland's twenty-three counties have never received a single NMTC investment. Prince George's County, with a population living in areas of severe economic distress nearly as large as Baltimore City's, has received just 3% of the state's total NMTC dollars.

Communities in the DMV, Southern Maryland, the Eastern Shore, and Western Maryland carry many of the same challenges: aging commercial corridors, limited access to capital, and local developers who are ready to build but lack a clear path to financing. These places are not asking Baltimore to receive less. They are asking for the pie to grow.

That is the balance MCIC is working toward. As we build our own investment pipeline and track record, we are looking for ways to keep supporting Baltimore's pressing needs while opening new doors elsewhere in the state, so that more Maryland communities have access to the food access points, health centers, job sites, and neighborhood-serving projects they need to thrive.