Building a Brighter Future For the Eastern Shore

Any person -- no matter their background, beliefs, accomplishments or affiliations -- can have the right solution(s) to the problems and challenges we all face; the key is to listen and to learn. While we live in a place where the future is bright with possibilities and promise, that future won’t exist if we don’t collectively nurture it and work towards making it a reality.

For far too long, the Eastern Shore has been overlooked and left behind. Here on the Shore, we can build a path towards sustained prosperity.

Politics hasn’t done a thing to improve the Eastern Shore, but we can build relationships across the state to support sustained investment in our region. Together, we can build a future where people thrive, where businesses thrive, and where we respect the heritage of the best place in Maryland. Together, we can build a future where Shore residents have autonomy over their own lives; where the cost of living is lower and where opportunity is around every corner.

We need serious job opportunities on the Lower Shore. Maryland needs to be a better place to do business and a better place to be employed.

In addition to building from our rural strengths, our traditional manufacturing base, and our strong resource-based economy, we need to grow and support emerging manufacturing and tech job opportunities. Artificial intelligence (AI) is already dramatically disrupting the global -- as well as local -- job market. This crisis is an opportunity to build a future where the Lower Shore thrives.

Regardless of background and education, we need more job opportunities and more pathways to greater agency in one’s life. Maryland needs to do a better job supporting employee-owned businesses, small businesses, and individuals who are working multiple jobs at once.

While we continue to grow more jobs in health care, housing, and education, here on the Shore, we need more types of jobs that provide an entry point to a stable future.

Our schools need to be safer places for educators and students to thrive. Educators need fewer distractions (especially from cell phones and behavior), while also having more autonomy in manageable classrooms.

In order for students to thrive, they need to have basic needs met. Modern schools are not just places to learn; they are places to receive nourishment, basic healthcare, and guidance for dealing with trauma and challenges experienced outside the classroom.

We need to prioritize smaller class sizes, safe schools, diversity of learning options, and facilities (and educators) that nourish a student’s love of art, music, sports, trades, and more.

We should not step back from career and technical education, but instead provide more pathways towards certifications, degrees, and experiences that enhance healthcare, computer science, skilled trades, and more. The modern school needs to match the modern economy. We need educators who look and sound like the students in the classrooms, and we need greater pathways (including internships, on-the-job training, corps service, and service year options) for students to thrive in the modern economy.

Thriving in the modern economy also means affordable higher education and a supply of trained workers to meet the needs of employers.

The cost of housing and the lack of housing options on the Eastern Shore is despicable. We need many more homes and more types of housing. Several large companies have chosen not to locate their businesses on the Lower Shore due to a lack of housing options (and lackluster investment in k-12 schools).

While there has been recent growth in apartment construction, the gap in housing for elderly and aging residents is at a near crisis level. Wicomico County needs many more single-family homes to be built and the state needs to support -- through public water and sewer -- larger in-fill development that reaches towns and cities of all sizes.

The cost of energy and the cost of eggs is too damn high. While wages have risen slightly over the past few years, when factoring in the cost of living and inflation, folks are having a harder time making a living now than compared to the late 1970s.

Maryland, which imports 40% of its energy, needs to produce more energy. The lack of energy production in Maryland (and across the PJM grid) is directly translating into vastly higher energy bills. Higher energy bills – along with tariff and inflationary policy – directly hurt business competitiveness and raise the cost of everything. This is unacceptable.

Maryland can and should evaluate all options to reduce the cost of living – including reviewing and repealing components of past legislation that unnecessarily increase the cost of living.

There are too few doctors and healthcare professionals on the Eastern Shore. There are too few options for individuals to receive basic healthcare.

A healthier Eastern Shore is a connected Eastern Shore. We can do much more to dramatically increase broadband internet (for telehealth and telemedicine), to provide more interaction among communities, and to increase trails, bike paths, and other recreation spaces. The Eastern Shore still lacks sufficient transportation options – especially for aging and sensitive residents.

As we build a healthier and more connected Eastern Shore, we need to ensure that it is safe. We should constantly evaluate public safety – including communication among and staffing of law enforcement -- alongside public health.

We need a cleaner Eastern Shore that is free from toxins (like TCE or PFA chemicals), free from trash, and that promotes a healthy ecosystem. The State of Maryland can do much more to help hook up failing septic systems, replace or upgrade outdated infrastructure, and to support farmers and landowners who are voluntarily increasing conservation practices.

The State of Maryland needs to lean into supporting local governments as they work to upgrade sewer systems, reduce landfill trash, remove invasive species, and support healthy waterways.

Maryland farmers and landowners have nearly met all 2025 TMDL nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment reduction goals. The state needs to continue to work with on-the-ground landowners and nonprofits to conserve land, implement innovative Best Management Practices (BMPs), stop the crisis of native species decline, and to nimbly respond to the effects of climate change.

Marylanders deserve clean water, productive working landscapes, and thriving ecosystems.

We need a future where all people have a fair shake at earning a living and living a peaceful life. Government – especially when working with the myriad of critical nonprofit organizations -- can help bring about opportunities and can address problems and challenges that the free market is ill-equipped or unable to address.

Government needs to be responsive, efficient, and transparent. Government needs to be able to respond to the many – not the few.