Help grow our Baltimore business guide

Do you know the best place in Baltimore to get a catered lunch? Printing services? Cleaning supplies? Your colleagues want to know, and by sharing your recommendations you may win dinner for two at Alma Cocina Latina.

During the month of July, the Johns Hopkins Purchasing Office is asking university and health system employees to go to the online vendor guide and review a Baltimore City business that they have used in the past six months. The reviews will help other Johns Hopkins faculty and staff support the institutions' HopkinsLocal goals, and each review will automatically be counted as an entry in a drawing for the restaurant gift card.

"The HopkinsLocal program is off to a great start, having increased what the university and health system spend in the city on goods and services by almost $5 million over one fiscal year," says Crystal Burns, small business and supplier diversity lead for the Johns Hopkins Purchasing Office. "We can keep our momentum going by helping everyone who makes purchasing decisions across the institutions find and use great local vendors."

To take part in the contest:

• Go to the vendor guide.
• Use your Johns Hopkins ID and password to access the guide.
• Choose a category.
• Click the blue "write a review" link to the right of the vendor information.
• Share your rating and comments before the contest ends on July 31.

Once you click the "submit review" button, the purchasing staff will automatically collect your Johns Hopkins email address and enter you in the drawing. All reviews are subject to approval before they are published on the website. You may review as many businesses as you like.

If a business is not currently in the guide, Burns will review it as a possible addition; those suggestions can be emailed to buylocal@jhu.edu.

HopkinsLocal includes a number of goals aimed at supporting city businesses and residents when Johns Hopkins builds, hires, and buys. Of those, the effort to purchase more from local businesses relies heavily on decisions by individuals in hundreds of departments every day.

"We hope that, with help from the vendor guide, our employees will remember our goals, look locally for vendors, and support the city," Burns says.