State Agencies Economic and Community Development/167

DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMIC AND COMMUNITY
DEVELOPMENT

James 0. Roberson, Secretary of Economic and Community Development
Hans F. Mayer, Deputy Secretary

Ardath M. Cade, Assistant Secretary/or Housing and Community Development
Gerald L. McDonald, Assistant Secretary/or Economic Development

Thomas Plank, Assistant Attorney General, Counsel to the Department of Economic and Community
Development

Joan M. Bernstein, Equal Opportunity Officer
Robert G. Schult, Director of Program Analysis

2525 Riva Road
Annapolis 21401 Telephone: 269-3174

The Department of Economic and Community Development was created in 1970 (Acts of 1970, ch.
527). Its origins, however, date back to the formation of the Department of Information. Originally
authorized by the Board of Public Works in 1948 as a division of the Hall of Records Commission,
the Department of Information gained independent status in 1949 (Acts of 1949, ch. 665). By 1959 it
was superseded by the Department of Economic Development (Acts of 1959, ch. 185), from which the
Department of Economic and Community Development was created in 1970.

The Department of Economic and Community Development was established to advance the eco-
nomic and cultural welfare of the people of Maryland (Chapter 527, Acts of 1970). The Department's
enabling legislation directs it to create and preserve optimal job and income opportunities for Mary-
landers and to protect and enhance the social, economic, cultural, and fiscal viability of the State's
communities.

The Department's more than twenty programs are organized into two principal areas: economic de-
velopment, which focuses on economic development financing and marketing, and housing and com-
munity development, which focuses on housing and community development as well as historic preser-
vation and cultural programs.

The Economic Development group consists of the following agencies: the Office of Business and
Industrial Development, Office of Business Liaison, Office of Industrial Training, Maryland Small
Business Development Financing Authority, Maryland Industrial Development Financing Authority,
Office of Seafood Marketing, and Office of Tourist Development.

The Housing and Community Development group consists of the following agencies: the Communi-
ty Development Administration, Division of Local and Regional Development, Tri-County Council for
Western Maryland, Inc., Tri-County Council for Southern Maryland, Commission on Afro-American
History and Culture, Commission on Ethnic Affairs, Maryland Historical Trust, Governor's Consult-
ing Committee for the National Register of Historic Places in Maryland, Commission on Indian Af-
fairs, St. Mary's City Commission, Maryland State Arts Council, Codes Administration, Code En-
forcement Certification Board, Advisory Commission on Energy Utilization in Buildings, Advisory
Commission on Industrialized Building and Mobile Homes, and Maryland Housing Fund.

The Department also includes the Maryland Energy Financing Administration, and the Motion Pic-
ture and Television Development Office.