Though it began like any other year, 2020 has proven to be one of the most difficult and frustrating periods of our lifetime. This was especially true for our business community, which faced numerous new obstacles including shifting consumer needs, new safety requirements and a general uncertainty about what lay ahead.

As we continue to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, promising news about vaccines is giving us new reasons to feel hopeful about the year ahead.

And with the holiday season upon us, I wanted to reach out so we could reflect on 2020 and highlight the ways our team has worked to help Maryland businesses during this turbulent and challenging period.

While we started 2020 by welcoming a number of major new employers to our state and celebrating the start of the “Year of the Woman,” in the second half of FY2020 the world started to become a very different place. Over the past nine months, our focus shifted from growing Maryland companies and attracting new investment to our state, to sustaining Maryland businesses during the pandemic.

We quickly launched new COVID-19 emergency relief programs, including grants and loans for our small businesses and a special grant program to help Maryland manufacturers produce personal protective equipment. The Fiscal 2020 Annual Reportrecaps these efforts, which continue to this day. The report also serves as an important reminder of Maryland’s amazing assets and potential: our talented people, our innovative companies, our federal laboratories and military installations and our renowned research universities. These are the reasons we will triumph over adversity and overcome any obstacles Maryland faces.

Our unforgettable year is also reflected in the video below. I hope you’ll take a look.

On behalf of the Maryland Department of Commerce, please stay safe as we encourage everyone to participate with #MasksOnMaryland. May the new year bring health, happiness, and vitality to all Maryland residents and businesses alike.