One Year of Just Communities: The Data-Driven Tools and People-Centered Strategies Guiding DHCD’s Work of Repair

Nearly one year ago, before a congregation of 200 gathered at Bethel AME Church in Cambridge, Governor Wes Moore signed the designations of 419 census tracts across Maryland as Just Communities. This historic moment was a critical component of the Governor’s work of repair – the State’s effort to drive equitable growth in historically disinvested communities and ensure that every town, city and neighborhood in Maryland has the opportunity to thrive.

At the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development, this work is led by the Division of Just Communities (DJC). Under the leadership of Assistant Secretary Cat Goughnour, the Division of Just Communities is responsible for executing the goals of the 2024 Just Communities Act, which authorizes the State of Maryland to designate areas as Just Communities based on specific criteria such as a history of redlining, exclusionary zoning, or high imprisonment rates.

Just Communities are areas identified through data and history where Maryland is intentionally directing investment to repair past harms, reduce disparities, and create equitable opportunities for residents. Through state reinvestment, the Department seeks to transform historically disinvested communities into places that advance equity and civil rights, uplift underserved communities, and right the wrongs of the past, creating healthier, more resilient communities that contribute to the overall social and economic well-being of the state.

With the new framework provided by the Just Communities Act, the Department has been working to target its resources to expand the impact of state dollars on the ground, ensuring that our investments and engagement create equitable racial, economic, and health outcomes for all of Maryland’s people and places.

In the last year, DJC has been busy deploying new tools, resources, and guidance for stakeholders and partners to effectively implement the Just Communities framework in their communities.

In January 2026, the Department announced the Division of Just Communities was selected for the Public Finance Initiative’s Rural and Small Cities Program. As part of the program, DJC and PFI co-designed and hosted a two-day Just Communities capacity-building workshop to support the Department’s People-Centered Placemaking efforts, equipping participants with tools to advance equitable development and community-driven revitalization. The March workshop drew over 40 attendees from across the state.

In June 2026, we launched the Just Communities People-Centered Placemaking Toolkit, including the Community Investment StoryMap, a new tool to guide Just Communities partner involvement and investment, including guidance for adapting approaches to unique local needs, cultures, and context. The toolkit also includes an expansion to the Just Communities Designation Map Viewer, adding a report generation function and supplemental data analysis from the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act and the Community Reinvestment Act.

This is just a snapshot of the work that Assistant Secretary Cat Goughnour and her team have been doing in partnership with stakeholders, community members and State of Maryland sister agencies – such as the Department of Environment, the Department of Planning and the Governor’s Office of Children – to right the wrongs of the past.

Over the last year, eligible programs through the Department’s offices and divisions have integrated the Just Communities framework, resulting in millions of dollars in investment flowing into designated Just Communities.

• Division of Business Development (DBD): The new NourishMD Grant Program had the highest rate of investment into designated Just Communities of any DBD program. After a full year of administering the Department’s small business support programs, DBD has concluded that advertising into Just Communities yields the greatest number of investment opportunities. In light of this, the Business Lending Program is moving to a 4% fixed rate with intentional advertising and community engagement in Just Communities.
• Division of Neighborhood Revitalization: 60% of the 226 Fiscal Year 2026 State Revitalization Program awards are within designated Just Communities. 100% of the 202 Fiscal Year 2026 Baltimore Vacants Reinvestment Initiative projects are located within designated Just Communities.
• Community Development Administration: In the first three quarters of Fiscal Year 2026, the Maryland Mortgage Program (MMP) empowered 850 mostly first-time homebuyers in underserved communities to unlock the door to homeownership, channeling $230 million in private investment back into neighborhoods long overlooked. Additionally, the Multifamily Bond Program, Rental Housing Program, and Tax Credit initiative delivered $524 million to finance over 1,119 Units in 11 high-quality rental housing projects in Just Communities.
• Division of Homeless Solutions: In Fiscal Year 2025, the Maryland Housing Counseling Fund supported 2,394 clients residing in a designated Just Community – approximately 43% of all clients served in FY25.

With a strong cohort of partners, clear focus areas and a charge from the Governor to do the work of repair, DJC isn’t slowing down.

In the coming months, the Department will release a Year 1 Just Communities Baseline Investment Report that showcases key outcomes of this first-of-its-kind state office, highlights Fiscal Year 2026 Department investment in Just Communities and outlines areas for future growth. We’ll also publish the Department’s Fiscal Year 2027 – Fiscal Year 2029 Environmental Justice Strategic Equity Plan, a road map for coordinated action to leverage key data tools to better understand past policy decisions that disproportionately affect community conditions for underserved, overburdened, and climate-vulnerable communities.

And, this July, DJC will launch the second phase of the state’s People-Centered Placemaking interagency implementation and evaluation with a Trauma-Informed Community Development Immersion pilot designed to:

• Develop, implement, and accelerate strategies to lift up communities that have experienced historical and ongoing socio-economic marginalization.
• Assist in transforming the ways programs and efforts are talked about (both internally and externally) to better reflect historical awareness/accuracy, critical sensitivity, political agency, and respect for those experiencing ongoing historical trauma.
• Educate staff at all levels on best practices for approaching efforts to empower communities that have been marginalized, redlined, sub-primed, divested, and disinvested, particularly communities of color and communities that have been socio-economically disadvantaged over several generations.

To learn more about the work of the Department’s Division of Just Communities and eligible programs, visit our website. To stay up to date on news and announcements, sign up to learn more about Just Communities.