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Established in 2015, Made in Baltimore became part of the Baltimore Development Corporation — which is funded by the City of Baltimore and local philanthropic foundations — in 2018. Its mission is simple: to encourage and support entrepreneurs who make products here. “Made in Baltimore is a program to support makers and manufacturers in Baltimore City and grow our ‘buy local’ movement,” Cook explained. “We organize a network of entrepreneurs who make products,” he said. Most are small business owners with fewer than 10 employees.
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PHOTO BY JONATHAN BREGEL
What Made in Baltimore does
JUNE 2021
More than 125,000 readers throughout Greater Baltimore
Made in Baltimore with love By Margaret Foster A few years ago, Teresa Stephens was working in a community garden in West Baltimore when a disheveled man stumbled in from a nearby alley, alcohol on his breath. The man, who told her he had grown up on a North Carolina farm, seemed interested in her work. Stephens, now 52, offered him a plot of his own. “I provided everything: a shovel, a hoe, the seeds he said he wanted,” she recalled. Within months, “Mr. Robert” had a thriving garden — and had sobered up. “He would just come out and sit in the middle of everything he’d grown. The gardening was unpaid therapy,” Stephens said. He showed her “the impact that green can have on someone’s life.” Inspired by the transformative power of urban gardening, Stephens decided to get serious about greening up the city. As a volunteer for the neighborhood 4H club, she taught children how to make “seed bombs,” colorful balls of fertilizer and seeds. “We tossed them all over the community,” she said. Then Stephens decided to start selling her seed bombs, establishing a small business called Urban Roots Company. That’s when she caught the eye of Andy Cook, executive director of Made in Baltimore, who invited her to become one of the program’s members. “I just really appreciate them so much,” Stephens said. “The support they give to their makers through their workshops, the mentors that share success stories — it’s just really encouraging.”
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L E I S U R E & T R AV E L
Celebrate a return to normal in Nashville, where live outdoor concerts, museums, parks and eateries are thriving; plus, visit these gorgeous gardens in our region page 16
Baltimore resident Teresa Stephens, owner of Urban Roots Co., sells “seed bombs,” colorful balls of seeds that don’t require planting. With the help of a program called Made in Baltimore, Stephens’ gardening products have become bestsellers in local pop-up shops and gift stores.
The program helps in three ways. First, Cook and his staff help entrepreneurs market and promote their products, adding them to its billboards, pop-up stores and their catalog, or LookBook. Second, Made in Baltimore offers business development in the form of networking, workshops and lectures. And finally, the group helps people advocate for policies that make it easier to run a business in their neighborhood. “We work with businesses over the long haul and try and support them as they evolve,” Cook said.
Navy mother finds a niche One of those evolving business owners is Jessica McGrath, 52, who creates jewelry. Twenty years ago, McGrath took a beading class at a San Diego high school “and, always
the entrepreneur, I made a beading company and sold at local craft shows,” she said. Later she took metalsmithing classes in Carmel, California, and realized “it was what I really wanted to do.” When McGrath moved to Maryland, she took classes at the Baltimore Jewelry Center and decided to “get serious” about her art. She came across Made in Baltimore and sold her jewelry in their pop-up stores and virtual marketplace for three years. “I really liked what they stood for, helping small businesses in Baltimore and raising them up,” McGrath said. “I love their chutzpah — they never give up. They try to help and move [us] forward. It’s such a great organization. It’s really something that is needed,” she said. See ENTREPRENEURS, page 20
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