Published on: Wednesday, November 18, 2009

By Martin O'Malley, Governor of Maryland

In the nine months since President Obama’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act was signed into law, your state government has partnered with businesses and organizations all over our state to put those funds to good use, working to create and save jobs and to bolster our economy.

We all know that times have been tough, and they continue to be tough. But we have been fighting to turn our economy around. We are proud to announce that, working together and with the help of Recovery funds, we have been able to create or save more than 14,000 jobs in our state. That’s 14,000 people who don’t have to lie awake at night worrying where their next paycheck will come from.

That’s not all. Thanks to the Recovery funding, we were able to expand healthcare coverage to 50,000 parents and 48,000 children. It will take time for our economy to fully rebound. But the Recovery Act is helping us get closer to our goal.

For example, Recovery funds are being used in Prince George’s County on projects like weatherization, improving water quality, resurfacing roads, and to help support arts organizations.

Prince George’s County businesses are benefiting from the Recovery Act as well. Lanham-based Rustler Construction won a Recovery Act-funded project contract that allowed it to retain its existing staff as well as hire additional employees and purchase new equipment.

It’s important that Recovery funding is spent effectively on projects that will go the farthest toward creating jobs and getting our economy back on track. It’s also important that taxpayers know where their tax dollars are going. We want to make sure every Marylander has full access to information about the Recovery dollars coming into our state. That’s why we created a website Marylanders can go to – www.recovery.maryland.gov – to get information on what Recovery funds our state has received, and what projects they are being used to fund.

Martin O’Malley is governor of Maryland.