| Welcome to the Maryland State Innovation Team Newsletter |
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In this issue
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► Welcome Letter from Francesca Ioffreda, Chief Innovation Officer |
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► Year in Review: 2025 Impact Report |
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► National Spotlight: Apolitical's 50 States, 50 Breakthroughs |
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► Tool Spotlight: Maryland Community Business Compass |
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► In the News |
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► Get Involved |
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► Stay Connected |
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You are receiving this newsletter as a key partner or collaborator of the Maryland State Innovation Team. Over the past year, many of you have shared that you'd like a way to stay connected to our work, and we're excited to make that happen with these quarterly updates.
If you'd prefer not to receive future issues, you can unsubscribe at the bottom of this newsletter.
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Welcome
Welcome to the first issue of the Maryland State Innovation Team newsletter
Driven by Governor Moore’s vision, our team was built to approach Maryland’s most complex challenges in bold new ways — starting with reducing child poverty and improving economic mobility across the state.
Over the past year, we have partnered with residents, families, state agencies, and many other stakeholders to turn innovative ideas into tangible results. We operate on a core principle: to build effective solutions, we must build with the community, learning from the expertise of those closest to the challenges.
We created this newsletter to invite you into that process. Each quarter, we will share what we are building, what we are learning, and exactly how you can collaborate with us. We want to hear your feedback, and we welcome your ideas on what topics you want to see in future issues.
Thank you for your partnership and your shared commitment to leaving no one behind.
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Francesca Ioffreda
Chief Innovation Officer, State of Maryland
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Year in Review
2025 Impact Report
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"Data-driven, community-grounded, and results-obsessed." |
Over the past year, the Maryland State Innovation Team partnered with 12 state agencies and 600+ residents to turn bold ideas into tangible results for Maryland families.
Here is a quick look at what we delivered:
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Guided $10M to high-need communities. We co-designed and launched the AI-powered Maryland Community Business Compass, attracting 11,000+ active users and directing critical state funding to where it's needed most. |
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Operationalized $2.5M to enhance access to capital. We partnered with the Office of Financial Regulation to publicly launch the Maryland Community Investment Venture (MCIV) Fund, which helps community banks and credit unions bring new financial solutions to underserved neighborhoods. |
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Helped generate over $3.6M in new statewide savings. Using cross-agency collaboration and behavioral nudges, we helped MarylandSaves enroll over 1,000 new employers in the state's emergency savings and retirement program. |
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Deployed 14 open-source AI tools. We built custom tech — including the nationally recognized Legi-Assist — to drastically reduce labor-intensive research for state workers. |
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Upskilled 200+ state employees. We trained staff across 13 agencies in "AI for Performance," expanding the state's data capabilities without increasing headcount. |
A sincere thank you to all our partners in the private, non-profit, and public sectors who made this impact possible.
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Apolitical's 50 States, 50 Breakthroughs
The Innovation Team was recently honored in Apolitical’s national 50 States, 50 Breakthroughs list. The feature highlights our development of Legi-Assist, an open-source AI tool designed to significantly reduce the time state workers spend on labor-intensive legislative research.
We spoke to the team at Apolitical about how our team built Legi-Assist and how other governments can build innovative solutions that scale by addressing real problems they currently face.
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Tool Spotlight
Maryland Community Business Compass
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- Built in under five months and launched in December 2025, the Maryland Community Business Compass helps small businesses identify market opportunities and secure funding — starting with the critical child care and fresh food sectors.
- The platform is already delivering results: engaging over 11,000 active users, guiding over 15,400 new visits to state and local incentives, and directing $10 million to high-need areas. As Governor Moore noted in his 2026 State of the State address, it is a “case study on how we can use AI to make opportunity more accessible and not less accessible.”
- We are currently scoping new features through a partnership with Anthropic to enhance Version 2 of the Compass, which is set to launch in fall 2026.
- Visit the Compass to discover the opportunity within your community.
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In the News
Recent Coverage
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Technical.ly
Maryland Team Profiled for Community Business Compass
A recent feature in Technical.ly takes a closer look at the Maryland Community Business Compass and our work to support essential community businesses. The article highlights how the Compass acts as a bridge, connecting small business owners with the resources they need to thrive, while spotlighting the voices of real users and the impact the platform can have on their entrepreneurial journeys.
Read the article →
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MSCCA Child Care Matters Podcast
CIO Francesca Ioffreda on Child Care Innovation in Maryland
Chief Innovation Officer Francesca Ioffreda recently joined Christina Peusch on the Maryland State Child Care Association Child Care Matters podcast to discuss why child care is the “workforce behind the workforce.” Their conversation dives into the administration’s focus on early childhood education as critical economic infrastructure, and how the Innovation Team is developing new initiatives to address industry challenges and better support working families.
Listen to the episode →
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Get Involved
Partner With Us: Current Projects
We don't build for Marylanders; we build with them. Here's how you can get involved with our active projects right now:
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Compass V2
We are currently developing Version 2 of the Maryland Community Business Compass alongside our partners at Anthropic. Our goal is to enhance the platform's dynamic economic development features — if you would like to share your insights and help us build these new features, connect with us at compass@maryland.gov.
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Child Care Workforce Co-Design
We are conducting research on ways to support the financial stability of early childhood educators. If you are a child care worker or provider, we want to hear from you.
Take our 2-minute interest survey →
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Maryland Community Investment Venture (MCIV) Fund Applications
The MCIV Fund is preparing to award the first round of pilot funding for fintech-institution partnerships. If you are a bank or credit union looking to get involved, or an innovative fintech with a financial inclusion solution serving low- to moderate-income communities, reach out at mciv.fund@maryland.gov.
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Stay Connected
Keep in Touch
We share new launches and interim updates regularly on our social channels. Join the conversation and follow us on LinkedIn and Instagram.
Want to share a partner success story, an upcoming event, or a useful tool with the team? To submit a brief write-up for consideration in the next newsletter, simply connect with us by replying directly to this email!
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