PGS GWCF Special Edition: Dialogue 2024

DIALOGUE PRINCE GEORGE’S COUNTY A Conversation & Exchange Of Ideas

2024-2025

The Case For Economic Justice In Prince George’s

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economic justice [ ek-uh-nom-ik, ee-kuh- ] [ juhs-tis ] noun

A set of moral and ethical principles for building economic structures and institutions where the ultimate goal is to create an opportunity for each person to establish a su

cient material

foundation upon which to have a dignified, productive, and creative life.

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A Great View Of Prince George’s County, Maryland

SPECIAL EDITION 2024 Raoul Dennis Publisher/Editor-In-Chief D. A. Phillips Associate Publisher Gil Griffin Copyediting Raoul Dennis, Amir Stoudamire Advertising Kristina Townsend Editorial Assistant Raoul Dennis Art Director/Page Design Maria Lopez-Bernstein Photo Editing & Consultant Amir Stoudamire Senior Photographer Rob Roberts Contributing Photographer

Consultants & Support Barbara Frazier, Mildred B. Dennis, Ysabel Garcia de Lopez and Eugenia Hopkins

.

Editor Ad Infinitum Ed Brown

Cover The Case for Economic Justice

Cover Photos Appear Courtesy The Greater Washington Community Foundation, Shutterstock Photography

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Marion Barry: The Gold Standard In Demanding A Fair Economic Standard It’s widely held that former Washington D.C. Mayor Marion Barry created the pathway for economic prosperity and the trend for black upward mobility to the suburbs of Prince George’s.

Barry, who stepped away from earning a doctorate in chemistry to devote his life to civil and economic justice, came to Washington, D.C. in 1965 to establish an office for the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). He never left– eventually becoming the city’s second elected mayor and serving in that office for 12 years.

There can be little discussion of economic justice in the DMV that doesn’t include Barry who forcefully demanded and directed opportunities for contracts for minority business owners and giving marginalized communities traditionally shut out of economic development initiatives a seat at the table. Even the summer jobs program for youth launched by the Barry Administration became a popular pipeline toward a more diverse future workforce in the city. Barry stands as one of the framers of the DMV’s modern diverse economic mosaic.

Marion Barry: March 6, 1936 – November 23, 2014 PHOTOGRAPHY BY ROB ROBERTS

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An Agenda for Economic Just “We are now faced with the fact that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now.”

–Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?

Having recently celebrated what would

have been Dr. King’s 95th birthday, we once again remember him as one of this nation’s most courageous truth-tellers. The words he spoke are as true today as they were when he first penned them just a year before his assassination in 1968. He invited the nation to incisively see the precarity of its place in history, as the country wrestled at the intersection of war, poverty, and persistent racism.

His warning and his appeal to our higher morality and deepest ambitions were summed up in the choice that he puts before us: “Chaos or Community.”

What Dr. King saw in his time; we see now in our own time. Prince George’s County is in a moment where we must reckon with hard truths, courageously wrestle with difficult choices, and reimagine and pursue exciting possibilities that lead us to new reality of shared prosperity and economic justice in the county.

“Prince George’s Proud” There is much about the county that supports the pride we feel.

We’re passionate about education with a 2-year college, Prince George’s Community College, and five 4-year colleges/universities including the University of Maryland, the state’s flagship campus and one of the nation’s preeminent public research universities, and Bowie State University, Maryland’s first historically black public university.

The county plays host to numerous federal agencies including Joint Base Andrews, NASA Goddard Space Center, and headquarters to both the Census Bureau and the US Citizenship and Immigration Services agencies. And we await the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s impending move.

We are a regional entertainment, leisure-time destination- home to MGM National Harbor, Gaylord Resort & Convention Center, FedEx Field and the Washington Commanders. We are also known to have a vibrant and diverse faith community that includes 12 predominantly African American “mega churches” (greater than 2,000 congregants) that draw the faithful from around Maryland and neighboring states.

We can boast a first in Maryland history when in 2018 the county elected its first woman and first African American woman to the office of county executive. And just last year, Prince George’s County was instru6.

mental in voting in the state’s first African American governor.

We are home to nearly 1M residents with over 14,500 businesses -- 400 of them employ 100 or more workers, helping to establish record low levels of unemployment.

Yes, we are “Prince George’s Proud” yet understand there is much work to be done so that all our neighbors and friends can realize their full potential and greatest aspirations.

We are a County at a Crossroads of Opportunity

While Prince George’s continues to be one of the wealthiest black Counties in the country, there remain pockets of residents faced with significant social, economic, and health challenges. The 2008 financial crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the reality of historical and structural racism revealed the precarity of our collective socio-economic circumstances and revealed gaps across key quality of life indicators including family savings, home equity, life-expectancy, the overall health of our populace. Recovery from these losses in Prince George’s County has been slow.

We contend that these are signals that invite us to name and transform the deeper historical, institutional, and systemic realities that come with being a majority black—and increasingly Latino County in the nation’s capital region.

Following Dr. King’s admonition, we reject the idea of chaos. We choose community! We contend that this is a moment when we must turn to each other and work together to build an even stronger Prince George’s County for everyone.

Who We Are: The Partnership for Prince George’s County

We fundamentally believe that strategic partnerships and aligned ambitions are core elements for community progress. It has been more than a decade since philanthropy has organized purposefully to focus in on a collective strategy for Prince George’s County. Our newly formed partnership – a group of six philanthropic organizations - convened to activate what we are calling “An Agenda for Economic Justice in Prince George’s County.” This work is personal. Some of us live here and love what Prince George’s stands for -- and is poised to become.

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tice in Prince George’s County

The 2008 financial crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the reality of historical and structural racism revealed the precarity of our collective socio-economic circumstances and revealed gaps across key quality of life indicators including family savings, home equity, life-expectancy, the overall health of our populace.

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GEORGE ASKEW

TEMI F. BENNETT

IAN GORDON

HAHN LE

GORDON PERKINS

TONIA WELLONS

JAMYE WOOTEN 8.

It has been more than a decade since philanthropy has organized purposefully to focus in on a collective strategy for Prince George’s County.

As leaders of several of the largest and most active philanthropic organizations in the Greater Washington region, we acknowledge the role that our sector has played in shaping the socio-economic landscape of our region. For decades, the amount of philanthropic investment in Prince George’s County has paled in comparison to other jurisdictions in the region.

Despite moderate to strong levels of household income, black and Latino communities have not had the opportunity to build the kind of generational wealth that creates family philanthropies and foundations to support the kind of robust nonprofit sector that exists in other parts of the state.

This has meant that Prince George’s County has had a lack of critical resources with which to birth new narratives and innovative socio-economic approaches that could inform an economic justice blueprint that will advantage everyone.

As we take steps toward strengthening our philanthropic partnership we commit to engage in disruptive and innovative actions that we hope will inspire even greater partnerships, collective action, more investment into communitybased organizations, places, and people, who are struggling the most. Our initial areas of focus include: 1. Framing a New Narrative. Shaping and amplifying a new narrative in Prince George’s County that is grounded in the lived experiences and deepest aspirations of all our people.

This narrative will honor those whose sacrifice and ideas gave rise to the Prince George’s that we know, love, and support today, challenge the status quo, speak to who we are and who we want to be and inspire us all to act in the best interests of each other and a future where we can all prosper together.

2. Centering People and Neighborhoods. As we pursue an agenda for Economic Justice in Prince George’s County, we believe that by centering the leadership and ambitions of the most economically isolated people in the county and focusing our change efforts in the places where they live, we will create the kind of catalytic change that will benefit all of us and shatter the barriers that reinforce isolation. In other words, when those who are struggling the most do better and thrive—we all do better and thrive.

3. Exponentially Increasing Public, Private, and Philanthropic Capital.

We are committing more philanthropic presence and dollars to help grow and advance Economic Justice work in Prince SPECIAL EDITION 2024

George’s County. We intend to marshal financial and social capital of resources from among our six organizations to leverage a broad range of additional capital resources—to include new sources of public and private funding, crosssector partnerships, a strong nonprofit sector, growing influence, and an aligned public will—all in pursuit of an economically just future in Prince George’s County.

4. Field Building and Capacity.

Growing the field of support systems and networks is key.

We will identify and resource a cohort of nonprofits and individual leaders working on economic justice initiatives.

5. Creating Disruptive Innovations and Interventions.

We will seek to pool and align funding that supports disruptive and innovative pilots that can move the county toward an economically just future.

6. Impact for True Change.

Consistent investment and efforts in the areas described above can only lead to success creating a county report card that will significantly mark our progress toward a truer economically just Prince George’s County.

A Bias for Action?

“Why should there be hunger and privation in any land, in any city, at any table, when man has the resources and the scientific know-how to provide all mankind with the necessities of life?”

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?

As Dr. King put the choice of Chaos or Community in front of us, he also offered a potential solution -- guaranteed income—an approach where people receive regular cash payments to help them meet their basic needs.

In the wake of the COVID-19 Pandemic, many local governments and philanthropic entities have answered Dr. King’s call – launching more than 100 guaranteed income pilots in communities across the country.

With initial investments from the Community Foundation and Meyer Foundation, the Partnership for Prince George’s is proud to have designed and launched a pilot—Thrive Prince George’s—in partnership with the Prince George’s County Council and the County Executive. Over the next two years, this initiative will provide monthly payments of $800 to a group of low-income seniors and youth who have PRINCE GEORGE’S SUITE MAGAZINE

“

Our goal is to demonstrate that guaranteed income, as a strategy to support economic mobility, is one of the most promising approaches to lift people out of poverty and provide greater economic stability for families. aged out of the foster care system. Our goal is to demonstrate that guaranteed income, as a strategy to support economic mobility, is one of the most promising approaches to lift people out of poverty and provide greater economic stability for families.

Our commitment to action has instigated several other initiatives that will move us toward becoming a more economically just Prince George’s County.

We look forward to sharing more information in the coming months.

We must reflect, discern, choose, and act with courage, resolve, and expediency. We are partnering with Prince George’s Suite Magazine to circulate a special edition dedicated to “An Agenda for Economic Justice in Prince George’s County.” We look forward to sharing and discussing this content, as we build momentum and alignment around this collective work.

Join us as we work to build a stronger Prince George’s County for everyone!

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” W WHO

E ARE

Greater Washington Community Foundation Tonia Wellons, President & CEO Greater Washington Community Foundation Ronnie Galvin, Senior Fellow and Convener Bank of America Foundation Derrick Perkins, Market Executive iF, A Foundation for Radical Possibility Hanh Le, Co-CEO Temi F. Bennett, Esq., Co-CEO CLLCTIVLY Jamye Wooten, Founder & CEO Meyer Foundation George L. Askew, M.D., President & CEO

United Way of the National Capital Area Ian Gordon, Vice President of Community Impact & Engagement Please direct inquiries to Darcelle Wilson, Greater Washington Community Foundation, Senior Director, Prince George’s County at dwilson@thecommunityfoundation.org.

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THE PARTNERSHIP FOR PRINCE GEORGE’S ENGAGEMENT STRATEGY FOR

AN AGENDA FOR

ECONOMIC JUSTICE IN PRINCE GEORGE’S COUNTY

PUBLIC NARRATIVE A new narrative about who we've been, who we are, and who we want to become as a county — a narrative that inspires us to pull together in pursuit of a economically just future.

PEOPLE POWER Grow collaborative energy and impact between people who are "Asset Limited Income Constrained & Employed" (ALICE) and public and private leaders working for economic justice in the county.

RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT Design and launch a bold fundraising campaign that exponentially increases public and private capital resources supporting economic justice projects in the county.

FIELD BUILDING & CAPACITY Identify and resource a cohort of non-profits and individual leaders who are working on economic justice initiatives.

DISRUPTIVE AND INNOVATIVE INTERVENTIONS Pooled and aligned funding that supports disruptive and innovative pilots that can move the county toward an economically just future.

IMPACT Creating a county report card that marks our progress toward economic justice.

PRINCE GEORGE’S COUNTY

DIALOGUE

A 2024 Special Edition

Table Of Contents

Guest Editor: The Greater Washington Community Foundation

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“Where Do We Go From HereChaos or Community”- An Agenda For Economic Justice In Prince George’s County

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Outlook: Partnering With The Greater Washington Community Foundation

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Within Reach: Economic Justice Q & A With David Iannucci

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Current State Of Affairs: Reviewing Prince George’s Standing In The Region From The View Of Local Journalists

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Democracy And The Public Square

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Tomorrow’s Leaders Today – Youthful Light Shines For Prince George’s

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Meet The Alsobrooks Youth Leadership Institute

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Frameworks For Economic Justice And Economic Prosperity

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The Power of Ethnic Diversity In Prince George’s

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Economic Inclusion Is Good Business – A Q & A With Mark Lawrence

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Start Here? Gov. Wes Moore Launches MEC, Supports Enough Act

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Are You In? Lets Make Good On The Promise Of Prince George’s County

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OutlookOutlookOutlook

A Story Worth Telling For A County Worth Building Better

Welcoming Guest Editor –The Greater Washington Community Foundation It’s not often that a local media platform is asked to partner with a

This edition reviews that question and several others. In our partnership regional nonprofit to collaborate on a national with the foundation as guest editor, these stories presconversation on the magnitude of economic ent a bird’s eye view of the status of economic justice justice and equality. and, through the voices of several young leaders The Greater Washington Community including Wellons’, offers a call to action.

Foundation is one of the finest organizations in The reality is Prince Georgians have long fought for the region confronting social and economic their share of the pie – even before the 1950s gave issues plaguing communities and families. birth to the Civil Rights Movement - and Former CEO Tonia Wellons is one of the most prolific Prince George’s County Executive Wayne Curry and consistent young leaders of the nation. Her (who boldly embodied the demand for upward work as founder of Prince George’s Forty mobility and equality on the county). Most black Under 40 in 2010 gave hundreds of county Prince Georgians of a certain age will tell you that professionals their first taste of regional recogwhen they were growing up, the idea of a Jackie nition. She has been a champion of the success Robinson as a competent competitor was a given --of the county, saying: “For years, we’ve known the rest of America had to catch up and accept what our potential, we’ve been aware of our potential African Americans were truly capable of. The quesas a county. Now, it’s time for kinetic impletion was more a matter of tolerance and compensamentation of our love for Prince George’s. It’s Tonia Wellons, President and CEO, The Greater tion.

Washington Community Foundation time to act.” And The Community In 1970, the US Census Bureau reported the mediFoundation’s recent work with the Thrive an income of families for blacks and other races was Prince George’s Guaranteed Income program is $6,520 (3.13 p/h), while white families averaged another vital example of Wellons’ direct action $10,240 (4.92 p/h). In 2020, some 50 years later, to elevate the county. blacks still only earned 87 cents for each dollar that The question of economic justice is intricately their white counterpart earned, according to Payscale. connected with the economic history of the Many Prince Georgians believed then, as they do nation. This has been true since Special Field now, that economic justice doesn’t mean their white Order No. 15 of Jan. 16, 1865, dictating 40 counterparts should acquire less wealth. It just means acres (and later a mule) to formerly enslaved everybody deserves equal access to wealth. people so that they may have a chance to earn Curry, the first African American county executive the financial footing to survive in post-Civil in the jurisdiction history, often remarked that the War America. It didn’t happen. It became the county was on the “road to Rome,” a shining beacon first in a history of broken promises, disparate on the hill. Known for his economic development banking practices and discriminatory policies work in tandem with Maryland Gov. Parris that prevented - or took - land from African Glendening (who had previously led the Prince Wayne Curry, former Prince George’s County Executive Americans.

George’s Economic Development Corporation) to There is no separating the growth of the most powerful economy in the open the county’s revenue streams against heavy bias, Curry fully underworld from the parallel trajectory of its most institutionally disenfran- stood the value of Prince George’s geographic and strategic position. His chised community. Historically, education became a start toward eco- outward struggle to gain equal opportunity and footing for the county nomic equality. has made some marginal progress but continues today. But as many hereHistory aside, why does the county have reason to address this issue now in denote, the inward struggle, for county residents to get out of their own – if at all? What is the question here and now for people who are living way and act/work together to excel is the larger question of our time.

The Dream – or very close to it?

–Blessings, The Editors The views in this special edition do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial board of Prince George’s Suite Magazine & Media 12.

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PHOTO: BLACK PROTEST

Economically Empowering Women: Equal Pay For Equal Work As a young student, Dorothy Height was accepted to Barnard College but turned away when the college advised they had met their quota for accepting black students. Instead she attended New York University where she received a bachelor’s degree in education and a master’s degree in psychology.

It was while working at the YWCA, that Height met Mary McLeod Bethune. McLeod Bethune was so impressed with Height that she invited her to join the NCNW, Inc. (National Council For Negro Women). Their civil rights work included supporting voter registration in the south.

Height went on to become president of NCNW for 40 years.

On June 10, 1963 Height joined President John F. Kennedy at the White House for the signing of the Equal Pay law.

“It was really the beginning of the hard drive to say that women should have equal pay for the work that they do. And of course, equal opportunity to get the jobs to get the pay,” Height said.

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On August 28 of that same year, her involvement in the Civil Rights Movement included helping to organize the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Some 250,000 attended the historic event and the NCNW was the only womens organization recognized at the march.

Height organized the first national Black Family Reunion in 1986. And it came as no surprise when the legendary leader returned to the White House in 1998 to recognize the 35th anniversary of the Equal Pay law under the Clinton Administration.

Height’s countless honors and awards include the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal. She would later meet the first African American president, Barack Obama, who called her “The godmother of the civil rights movement,” according to The New

York Times.

Dorothy Irene Height: March 24, 1912 – April 20, 2010

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What Are You Going To Do About It? Radio Host and Activist Joe Madison, known in the DMV as The Black Eagle, constantly asked callers what they planned to do about their frustrations with their conditions. Pictured here with former CNN correspondent Don Lemon at the 60th Anniversary of the March on Washington, Madison pushed for equality and economic justice throughout his career.

A native of Dayton, OH, Madison came to WOL in the DMV where he began building his name on talk radio. He took seriously his commitment to civil rights and economic justice. On his show he demanded that listeners take an active part in their hopes for civil and economic justice. Prince George’s County residents were a large part of Madison’s audience.

He led by example: Raised over $250,000 in 2015 for the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture by having a 52-hour marathon radio session. And in 2021 he held 73day hunger strike for voting rights and to bring attention to the Emmett Till Antilynching Act. Joe Madison: June 16, 1949 – January 31, 2024 PHOTOGRAPHY PHOTOGRAPHY BY

BY ROB ROB ROBERTS ROBERTS

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www.unitedwaynca.org

Q& A

David Iannucci Within Reach: Economic Justice PHOTO: ROB ROBERTS

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Strategy for greater economic development: Should the County Go ‘Tried and True,’ or Choose Something Entirely New? Neighboring counties have made and continue to make significant economic progress, with approaches designed to increase density, bundle retail outlets, transit, and housing, and attract large corporations and other anchor institutions to bring the promise of jobs, and a commercial tax base.

These strategies have been tried in Prince George’s County, but with mixed results. So, will Prince George’s continue emulating other counties utilizing that model of economic development? Or is now the time for Prince George’s County leadership to break with convention and pursue new approaches, designed to produce more justice, equity, and collective well-being?

Prince George’s Suite recently met with David Iannucci, president, and CEO of Prince George’s Economic Development Corporation, to learn where the organization stands on these crucial issues.

Prince George’s Suite: What is the state of the county today with regard to economic development?

Iannucci: We are recovering, after COVID-19, which was [not only] an international healthcare crisis, but also an economic crisis. We dug ourselves out of that. We are well on the road to economic recovery. Our great assets are a highly educated, skilled, well-compensated workforce. Prince George’s County really represents the America of the future with the workforce we have. We have a growing private sector with focuses on healthcare, on technology, on fulfillment centers and warehousing.

Prince George’s Suite: What are some of the upcoming opportunities that will increase the county standing over the next 10 years? Is quantum computing one of those things?

Iannucci: We have the opportunity to be the capital of quantum. We’ll work closely with the University of Maryland to create a quantum computing ecosystem around the campus. Another area where we see great promise is data centers, which have had a 35-year head start in Virginia. To our goal of growing the commercial tax base, we think data centers could be an important part of that solution. Healthcare is another area. We have the new University of Maryland Medical System Hospital in Largo. We have a vision of creating a healthcare community in the Carillon development at Largo, with medical office buildings, bringing in new doctors with new specialties, to address the healthcare needs of Prince George’s County. Working with the Alsobrooks administration, we try to make sure that we bring quality retail in a variety of locations around the county. We want to address the needs of some communities for grocery stores.

Prince George’s Suite: The county executive has issued an advertising campaign that promotes the importance of opportunity for all. What does that mean for your office?

Iannucci: Eighty percent of the companies that we deal with are minority-led. A lot of the entrepreneurs in Prince George’s County, with great deal of energy and aspirational goals for their business, are looking for the type of training assistance that the economic development corporation can offer. We put significant resources into training facilities aimed at creating the skills to make them more skillful businessmen and businesswomen: how to do business plans, how to pay taxes, how to set up an accounting system, how to market a business, how to create a website. There’s a training going on right now on how small businesses might use artificial intelligence to grow. We [also] have many programs in Spanish, aimed at supporting the Hispanic community.

“Creando Exitos” (“Creating Success”) is our number-one rated podcast. It’s in Spanish for the [Spanishspeaking] business community. Then there’s She Means Business, all-female panel event discussing how women can break the glass ceiling in business.

i

Prince George’s Suite: Does the government have a role and responsibility in making sure everyone gets these opportunities?

Iannucci: Government, at all levels, [has] a critical responsibility to make sure government services are accessible to all citizens. We argue very strenuously that Prince George’s County has been unfairly passed over by federal decision-makers when it comes to federal assets. That’s why bringing the FBI here is so critically important.

Also, the private sector has an obligation to look at Prince George’s County differently, to understand the outstanding assets that are here from our workforce, and to take advantage of that workforce.

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David Iannucci shares County Executive Angela Alsobrooks’ strategic view in expanding the commercial tax base in the county as a means toward extending and diversifying economic opportunities as well as quality of life. He envisions quantum computing as a growing industry that can provide game changing opportunities for the future workforce and help define the county as a destination for the field.

[whether it] will lead to office properties being devalued or being converted to residential properties. What does that do for a strategic plan that said we should create jobs by transit, when people keep their only commute by transit two days a week? Retail is changing. The good news is restaurants are coming back strong. There are a lot of entrepreneurs that the economic development corporation is working very closely with, to help them create and grow the restaurant opportunities. The workforce is changing — it’s younger. [Workers] want to telecommute and are reshaping the workplace. Artificial intelligence is going to have a dramatic impact on the workforce. With technology changing, with worker habits changing, with teleworking, economic development has to try to anticipate where the ball is going, rather than where it’s been.

David Iannucci speaks with the Chief of Staff of the Maryland Department of Commerce Office Of the Secretary Jerel Registre PHOTO: AMIR STOUDAMIRE // PRINCE GEORGE’S SUITE MAGAZINE & MEDIA

Prince George’s Suite: How would you define economic justice?

David Iannucci: Everyone has to have the same opportunity for quality jobs, for education, and creating generational wealth. We’re all familiar with the history in communities around the United States where facilities, whether they were landfills or prisons, or power plants, or things like that, have been placed in locations near communities of color, versus mostly white communities. The other thing is when the “good” products you want are just, by habit or by indefensible decision-making, not located in communities of color. The Economic Development Corporation is really a small cog in a much larger enterprise to rebalance that equation, so we have the same economic opportunities.

Prince George’s Suite: Do you see the traditional model of how we go about doing that staying the same or changing over the next two, three decades, or do you see that changing, based on current trends and dynamics?

David Iannucci: We all have to be flexible and adjust with change. Much of our strategic plan has been focused on creating job opportunities [near] our Metro stations. With the impact of “teleworking” from the COVID-19 pandemic, the entire commercial office market nationwide is undergoing a massive rethinking. There are numerous projections about how that’s going to shake out over probably a number of years, 18.

Prince George’s Suite: What do you think, going forward, the impact will be on fair distribution of wealth, going forward?

David Iannucci: There’s a difference in financial assets on a racial basis.

The black-white ownership gap is said to be the largest it’s ever been.

It’s a significant challenge of society in general, but certainly here in Prince George’s County. I think that’s why the county executive has spoken about wanting to make sure that there is housing of all types available for all of our citizens.

Prince George’s Suite: When you bring in more corporations that can help with the tax base and take some of the burden off of the taxpayers so that revenue streams increase, will those revenue streams then truly be brought back to average Prince Georgians?

David Iannucci: We’ve seen significant movement in increasing the county’s commercial tax base. Commercial taxes have gone from 28 percent to 31 percent of the base. That’s been an important movement in a $100 billion economy. The idea is to have confidence in our elected officials that they’ll use the resources they’re given, to equitably address the needs of the community. I have a fervent hope that over time, the answer to the question will be, “yes.”

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PHOTO: AMIR STOUDAMIRE // PRINCE GEORGE’S SUITE MAGAZINE & MEDIA

Restaurants Are Back: “The good news is restaurants are coming back strong. There are a lot of entrepreneurs that the economic development corporation is working very closely with, to help them create and grow the restaurant opportunities,” Iannucci says of restaurants like Fogo De Chao at National Harbor.

The Current State of Affairs: Growing the County Prince George’s Pundits: County Must Strongly Distinguish Itself, Wisely Assess Economic Landscape, to Match Neighboring Counties’ Wealth

By Raoul Dennis And Maria Fisher

Journalists, it’s said, write the first pages of history.

No one would question the unique role reporters, opinion columnists, and pundits have played over the years in disseminating information and both amplifying and shaping public opinion, officially and unofficially, in the places where they do their work. Local media professionals who have covered the Washington, D.C. metro area for decades have been in the unique position to view the work of change through the march of time.

Regarding the region, the question of economic justice trumpets differently in different jurisdictions. The conversation is especially unique in Prince George’s County.

In the last half-century, the county has become a haven for black, Latino, and other non-white residents to at last enjoy the long-denied benefits of suburban life, in a region largely led by people who look like them. But while Prince George’s County has been fertile, open ground for untapped growth, it is also a place that has yet to reach its maximum economic potential as a place where prosperity is shared by everyone.

A future such as this will require that stakeholders make different choices—including how to engage and solve the issue of economic justice in the county.

Survey Says: Despite Some Successes, County Playing Catch-up to Deliver on Quality-of-Life Issues

Tracee Wilkins, a lifelong Prince Georgian, is a celebrated investigative reporter with Washington, D.C.’s News 4 I-Team. She recognizes the county’s broad swath of income range as part of its charm — and challenge.

“The county is diverse 20.

PHOTO: COURTESY OFFICE OF THE COUNTY EXECUTIVE

in terms of economics,” Wilkins says. “The people who are predominantly moving into the community have higher incomes.”

On the issue of regional income disparities—Prince George’s comes in at the bottom when compared to neighboring counties in Maryland and Virginia. Based on 2022 sample data from the American

Comparison By County In 2022

PGC Charles Montg Fairfax Arling Alex

Median Household Income

Employment Rate

Bachelor’s Degree Or Higher

Without Healthcare Coverage

Households Per Employer

$94,441 $115,880 $118,323 $145,164 $132,380 $111,955

64.6% 68.3% 66.2% 67.5% 76.0% 72.8%

36.9% 32.5% 60.9% 65.5% 78.2% 69.9%

10.8% 3.8% 7.4% 7.2% 4.3% 8.1%

21.5 23.1 14.2 13.1 17.8 16.8

SOURCE: American Community Survey (ACS)

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PHOTO: AMIR STOUDAMIRE // PRINCE GEORGE’S SUITE MAGAZINE & MEDIA

Community Survey. Prince George’s median income, $94,441, is the lowest. Fairfax County had the highest at $145,164, followed by Arlington County, at $132,380, Montgomery County, at $118,323, Charles County, at $115,880 and Alexandria County, at $111,955.

The disparities in income are matched by similar disparities in wealth: “Wealth in the [District-Maryland-Virginia area] is still in Northern Virginia,” says Denise Rolark Barnes, who since 1994 has been publisher of the Washington Informer newspaper. “The county has to do a better job of assessing the [economic] landscape and putting resources into addressing those problems or they will lose people,” Rolark-Barnes says. “People will move to Charles and Montgomery counties. I think Prince George’s is still going to be a county in transition.”

The American Community Survey shows Prince George’s had the lowest employment rate, at about 64.6 percent, based on non-military residents 16 and older. Arlington had the highest at 76 percent, followed by Alexandria at 72.8 percent, Charles at 68.3 percent, Fairfax at 67.5 percent and Montgomery at 66.2 percent.

As for percentage of residents holding bachelor’s degrees or higher, Prince George’s came in fifth of the six counties, with 36.9 percent.

Only Charles County’s 32.5 percent was lower. Arlington County was found to have the most highly educated residents at 78.2 percent, Alexandria at 69.9 percent, Fairfax at 65.5 percent and Montgomery PRINCE GEORGE’S SUITE MAGAZINE

at 60.9 percent.

Prince George’s also had the highest number of citizens in the six counties without healthcare — nearly 11 percent.

Alexandria was next with 8.1 percent uninsured, Montgomery had 7.4 percent, Fairfax had 7.2 percent, Arlington at 4.3 percent, and Charles had the least number Denise Rolark-Barnes of uninsured citizens, at 3.8 percent.

As 2024 unravels as an election year of political philosophical shift, Prince George’s County remains in a state of economic flux, according to pundits who’ve monitored its economic progress since the turn of this century. Even as the County has grown into a relatively prosperous enclave, gaps in income and wealth--- within the county and compared to other jurisdictions in the region—have persisted and widened.

These differences are informed by corresponding disparity gaps in employment, education, and access to healthcare. The point here: these disparities not only affect people’s economic prospects, but also their overall quality of life.

“We’re better off (than 20 years ago) but we’re still dealing with racism and White flight,” says Hamil Harris, a veteran newspaper journalist and Morgan State University professor who has, for decades, covered Prince George’s County. “But why do we need other groups to

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PHOTO: AMIR STOUDAMIRE // PRINCE GEORGE’S SUITE MAGAZINE & MEDIA

make us prosperous? For people of color to have prosperity, we need to have to be able to build. It’s more than just having a position. The Capital Beltway was built on the backs of people in Prince George’s County, but we must drive (out of the county) to get necessities that we consider luxuries.”

Beyond Community: Defining Prince George’s Characteristics

Rolark-Barnes, the Informer publisher, grew up in the 1970s, with her parents anchored at Tracee Wilkins the front of Prince George’s County Deputy of Staff John Erzen works the generation of people of color demand- Chief Prince George’s Proud as he helps load food supplies for families ing opportunities for political and econom- during theand pandemic shut down. ic empowerment in Washington D.C. As droves of African American Washingtonians migrated to Prince George’s County to transition from renting city apartments to becoming suburban homeowners, many did so because of the initiatives and support of leaders such as Rolark’s parents. In 1969, Dr. Calvin Rolark and Wilhelmina Rolark co-founded the nonprofit, United black Fund of America, which since that time has provided much-needed seed money to communi22.

ty-based organizations.

Denise Rolark Barnes says Prince George’s County has yet to determine its identity and direction.

“It has to define itself,” she says of the county. “Montgomery County right now is doing a really bang-up job to market itself as a science and technology hub. Prince George’s County needs to determine what its industry is and what it’s known for, so that it can attract the people who are looking to live in a place that Hamil Harris helps to sustain them, but also grow them professionally, with the resources that they would need to maintain and grow a family at the same time.”

Wilkins, the News4 I-Team investigative reporter, says that regardless of whatever the county’s economic forecast may be, the sense of community, she says, is what made growing up there exceptional.

“The neighbors who were there when I moved in are still there,” Wilkins says. “We looked out for each other. Our friendships lasted. We were very close. That’s what’s authentic and real about being a Prince Georgian. There’s someplace for everyone.”

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Source Of Strength Economic Development Is Just One Step Along The Road Toward Expanding Long Term Wealth

PHOTO: COURTESY OFFICE OF THE COUNTY EXECUTIVE

By Chloe Redmond How will the County Executive pursue approaches to economic development that are designed to produce more justice and collective well-being for Prince George’s County residents?

Prince Georgians deserve new, affordable places to live, new public spaces, safer streets, new recreation and entertainment opportunities and new grocery stores. A key part of our transit-oriented development vision is affordability. We took our vision for transit-oriented development and shared it with the State of Maryland, and our economic development team shared our vision with local developers and businesses across the region. Prince George’s County was able to secure more than $400 million in bonds from the Maryland Stadium Authority for the transformation, as well as $700 million from the private sector. The Blue Line Corridor is an area where we envision a sports and entertainment district, as well as the attraction of amenities and dining opportunities along a corridor that is attached to transit.

The Largo, Morgan Boulevard, Addison Road and Capitol Heights stations feed into communities that have been left behind. Our focus on transit-oriented development is paying off along the Blue Line Corridor. We’re making investments that will transform our underutilized WMATA stations into a bustling center of transit-oriented housing and amenities. Some of the things you’ll see coming out of the Blue Line Corridor are an amphitheater, a major youth sports and entertainment venue, a cultural center and a food hall. Beyond offering new places to live and work, these new construction projects will provide hiring opportunities for Prince Georgians with construction and PRINCE GEORGE’S SUITE MAGAZINE

development.

To support the County’s Equitable Economic Growth Vision and achieve the affordable housing preservation and production goals of our economic development agenda, our Department of Housing and Community Development recommends investments that will be primarily targeted to geographic areas within Prince George’s County that are at or near our current or soon to be Metro and rail stations.

To accomplish this, we have already launched our Right of First Refusal (ROFR) program that allows the county, working with nonprofits, to protect rental households at risk of displacement from their homes. The County recently established a new program with $15 million in American Rescue Plan (ARP) funds, to be used to help developers acquire the ROFR properties. We will be seeking an additional $15 million from the State to help fund this program. The County also recently established a Housing Investment Trust Fund, which we committed $10 million towards to expand the creation of new affordable and mixed-income rental and homeownership opportunities in designated Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) areas.

We will be seeking an additional $15 million in State funding to continue this program.

And, since the beginning of the Administration, we’ve worked to better engage Minority Business Enterprises (MBEs). In 2018 we began the work of helping minority business owners with the development of tools and resources to enable better engagement. A PowerPoint presentation about that work is within the link below.

Responses prepared by Allyson Wilson Director of Communications, Office of the County Executive

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PHOTO: ROB ROBERTS ARCHIVE

Democracy And The Public Square

Crime, Education Are Key Drivers With County’s Democratic Voters in 2024 Election Season

By Maria Bellos Fisher

For the last several decades, Prince Georgians have elected to office, mostly moderate Democrats. But as new, more progressive voices emerge, the county’s voting trends are changing.

“The politics of Prince George’s County have changed tremendously in the last 40 years,” says political strategist Courtney Green.

“In the early ‘80s, black [residents in Prince George’s] were mostly working class. Many of them worked for the federal government, relocated to the county and bought homes. A significant portion of the county was still white middle class with a significant upper class. Now it’s [a] majority [of] black [residents] and a significant amount are no longer poor or working class. There’s a large middle class and there’s a growing wealthy class. A person with a significant income and a significant net worth has very different wants and needs than somebody who is living paycheck to paycheck.”

Two main issues are currently shaping the county’s political climate: crime and education. Prince George’s Suite discussed these two crucial topics with a variety of elected officials, political observers, and political commentators but also asked for individual thoughts on the election and voters.

Where They Stand State’s Attorney for Prince George’s County, Aisha Braveboy

She won her 2018 election to the position, capturing an almost unthinkable 99 percent of the vote.

Crime: She describes her position on crime as, “firm, but fair,” and that, “I’m working for everyone, including the guilty.”

Part of her work includes a proactive approach to transitioning felons back into their communities and helping them avoid recidivism.

Through her program, Emerging Adults, eligible inmates ages 18 to 26 complete a six-month workshop before their releases, to develop life plans, set personal and professional goals, and modify their behavior, including how to successfully manage conflicts and disappointments.

Braveboy says that nationwide, 95 percent of incarcerated people return to their home communities. Braveboy designed an additional program for released felons after they complete Emerging Adults, which offers life coaching, educational and training opportunities, and extends assistance for finding affordable housing. Braveboy says that as of this writing, none of the Emerging Adults participants have reoffended.

Education:

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Wala Blegay

Courtney Green

PHOTO: AMIR STOUDAMIRE // PRINCE GEORGE’S SUITE MAGAZINE & MEDIA

PHOTO:ROB ROBERTS // PRINCE GEORGE’S SUITE MAGAZINE & MEDIA

PHOTO: RAOUL DENNIS // PRINCE GEORGE’S SUITE MAGAZINE & MEDIA

PHOTO: AMIR STOUDAMIRE // PRINCE GEORGE’S SUITE MAGAZINE & MEDIA

Jazz Lewis Aisha Braveboy

Braveboy works closely with the county’s public school system to address truancy and school violence. “My goal is to ensure schools are safe places to learn,” she says. “Far too many kids are not going to school regularly.

We work with children to find out why they’re not in school and assist the family with compliance.”

Homelessness, mental health issues, and other traumas prevent young people from wanting to attend school, Braveboy says. “When I prosecute kids, I order their school records to get a total picture and I find they’re not in school. Poor attendance is an indicator that they commit crimes. I’m focused on working with the schools as well as in court.”

County Council Member Wala Blegay, Democratic Party, District 6

Blegay describes her political bent as “progressive,” but says, “in black communities, people don’t see issues as progressive or moderate.”

Crime: One of her focuses on crime is on police accountability— not surprising, considering the sordid scandals involving incidents of alleged racial bias that since 2018 have hovered like a storm cloud over the Prince George’s Police Department.

In that year, a contingent of Prince George’s black and Latino officers filed a federal lawsuit against the department, which two years later led then-Chief Hank Stawinski’s unplanned retirement, after a federal government report was released, documenting dozens of occurrences of racial bias within the force. The 2021 public release of an unredacted part of the report claimed the department failed to hold accountable and sanction white officers who were found to have committed acts of racial bias.

Still, Blegay says effective policing in the county is a necessity.

“We’re down on homicides, [but] up on property crime, carjacking, theft,” she says. “People are feeling the impact. People want to see justice and they do want people to be locked up.”

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Education: “The way to improve schools is to make sure there are competitive wages for teachers and smaller class sizes,” Blegay says.

But, she added, support services “are not there” for students facing mental health challenges and that without that, teachers are bearing their students’ burdens.

“As council members, we have little control of the school system,” Blegay says. “Individual pay is decided by the superintendent and class size is decided at the state level.” Blegay says her constituents want smaller class sizes and committed teachers. “Right now,” she says, “we have substitute teachers teaching many of our classes while they’re still working for their teaching licenses.”

On the Election and Voters: We’re more open to residents’ concerns, the powers that kept interests under [the business] community are no longer around. Control by perceived powerful elected officials held business interests. The business community controlled who got elected.

We’re Independent, no establishment can control us. Typically, candidates can’t do that. Those who campaigned against me know that they can’t roll in our circles. Can’t do what my predecessor had done because I was elected differently. Establishment had political mailers ruling who got elected and who didn’t for years, in order to prevail [they] had to get on [the] ticket. [Without the] ticket, winning was nonexistent. I raised my own money. I got a lot of support from residents, did my own advertising, and came in and had my own independent agenda. I don’t have to listen to anybody to tell me how to vote because they can’t say they got me in office.

State Delegate Jazz Lewis, Democrat, District 24

Crime: In articulating his views on crime, Lewis is loath to use labels.

“Depending on who you ask,” Lewis says, “I’m far progressive or solid

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25.

“This is a time of transition ideologically,” Lewis says. “We have folks who were elected that are more progressive, aggressive, and younger than before.”

Lawmakers, she explains, are learning that mental health has a tremendous impact on what leads to crime and some physical actions that can be perceived as criminal, could be the result of someone beset with mental health ailments.

“We look at other ways than, ‘See something, say something,’” Woods says.

“We gather necessary evidence. We put together a task force to include law enforcement and community. Progressives talk to [members of] the community and make people feel a part of [the solution].”

Sean Wilson

moderate.”

What’s far more important, he says, “[is that] over 90 percent of those incarcerated are coming back to a community. The question is: When and in what condition? How do we lower the recidivism rate? How do we lift [former felons] up and give them the resources they need?”

Lewis says his goal is assisting former felons to find work and get mental health support. He also has pushed to grant them access to seed capital when they return home.

“The same people coming home through the justice system,” Lewis says, “can be the best messengers to youth who are disaffected, from broken homes or where the system has failed them.”

Education: Lewis is especially concerned with the state’s return on investment in this area — or lack thereof.

“We did a multi-year study to see where Maryland schools were in the global landscape and we found we were lacking. We pumped billions into schools statewide and we’re just starting to see [the funds being] implemented. This fall we increased teacher pay to $60,000 a year and for the high needs community — children with autism, physical disabilities, intellectual disabilities, and high rates of poverty, we pay $70,000 to incentivize the best and brightest to go into teaching where schools need them the most.”

On the Election and Voters: This is a time of transition ideologically, We have folks who were elected that are more progressive, aggressive, and younger than before. I hope we can convene and get different leaders to understand we share the same values.

State Delegate Jamila J. Woods, Democrat, District 26 Crime: Woods says being progressive — how she identifies politically — means she and other progressive lawmakers search for new solutions to recurring problems such as crime.

“Progressives,” she says, “delve deeper into the true root of crime.”

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Education: Woods says the key to improving education in the county is making school environments exciting and welcoming.

“I am loving public-private school partnerships,” says Woods, who adds that Prince George’s County has new schools that don’t require families to win a lottery to gain entrance for their children, as with charter schools.

Woods cites Sonia Sotomayor Middle School in Adelphi as having a dance studio, recording studio, and an “amazing” library, as a highly desirable place to learn.

“Make kids want to come to school,”Woods says. “Make the school environment more inviting and support the community. Parents can take their children to daycare at the same school. We can [have schools like] this to alleviate barriers to being productive.”

Jamila Woods On the Election and Voters: This election year is going to be crucial to American voters. If there was ever a time when we must be adamant about understanding the extreme importance of getting out the vote, it is now. Literally, everything about our democracy is on the line.

You have to ask yourself, what have we come to? When the competition between parties and leaders, is overwhelmed by character and behavioral realities which include convictions of such egregious crimes as rape, fraudulent behaviors, an insurrection, and ongoing nefarious actions, all at the same time, and yet an individual with this record is the clear choice of his party.

What have we come to, when a number of our top elected officials are demonstrating the stressors that are beginning to clearly be reflected in their mental capacity to be effective leaders?

What have we come to, when our communicative decorum lacks respect, regard, or reverence for integrity?

Economic justice remains a challenge for diverse marginalized populations seeking to be included in non-biased decision-making, equity, educational and financial opportunities.

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Tomorrow’s Leaders Today Youthful Light Shines For Prince George’s

By Kristina Townsend

PHOTOGRAPHY BY ROB ROBERTS ADDITIONAL PHOTOS APPEAR LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE

COURTESY

THE

ALSOBROOKS

YOUTH

With new initiatives like the Blueprints Program, adding six schools, to the Father’s Day Pledge Initiative, and County Executive Angela Alsobrooks founding a Youth Leadership Institute, it seems Prince George’s County elected officials won’t soon run out of new measures they hope will benefit communities countywide.

But are these developments beneficial? Are they enough? Prince George’s Suite recently met with some of the county’s youth to ask them.

“Of course, there have been issues when it comes to infrastructure with [resources] for teens,” says Treasur Thompson, a 16-year-old who serves as the Alsobrooks Youth Leadership Institute’s sergeant at arms. “But [the Alsobrooks Youth Leadership Institute] has offered me the opportunity to learn more about the county. I hope to help the county with providing tutoring for [students entering] high school.”

Other teens say they want the county to pay more attention to their voices.

“I’d like to continue to speak with the County Executive about including more youth opinions in some youth programs,” said 16-yearold Charlotte Williams, the Alsobrooks Youth PRINCE GEORGE’S SUITE MAGAZINE

“We see so much violence and so much hurt in our very own community, and I just hope to see that one day, that violence, that anger, that battle, that internal battle stops being portrayed outwards towards other people,” says author of the self-published book, “WordUP! ~ In Spite Of” by Ayeme K. Owona.

Leadership Institute’s youth ambassador. “I’ve learned how important it is to stand up for what we believe in.”

O’Marie Barnes, another 16-year-old, chairs the Institute’s mental health committee. He says youth voices in local affairs are crucial, both now and in the near and distant future.

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“Right now, Prince George’s County is persevering,” he says. “We’re progressing and the Alsobrooks Youth Leadership Institute is playing a hand in that by allowing youth leaders to be involved in the progress that Prince George’s County is creating, and by allowing youth leadership to take on these positions, advising the 27.

county executive and meeting with county leadership to make sure that the voice of youth in the county is protected. We want the youth to have an effect on the county because the youth will live to see that effect.”

Some young adult Prince Georgians seem especially concerned with eliminating violence.

“I definitely see my peers sometimes not seeing eye to eye, and it can be over trivial things, but those things can escalate, and they can exponentially grow, and next thing you know, someone is hurt, someone is in pain, someone loses someone else,” says Ayeme K. Owona, a Prince George’s Community College student and self-published author of the book, “Word Up! ˜ In Spite of,” a self-help guide to young people still struggling with traumatic issues brought on or amplified by the COVID-19 global pandemic.

“We see so much violence and so much hurt in our very own community, and I just hope to see that one day, that violence, that anger, that battle, that internal battle stops being portrayed outwards towards other people. Most importantly, I hope we stop inflicting it on ourselves. If we go back to the drawing board on how we address ourselves and look at ourselves and how we execute our daily lives, we can [have] a community that loves one another and respects one another.”

Treasur Thompson: “I hope to help the county with providing tutoring for [students entering] high school.”

16 year-old O’Marie Barnes is the chairman of the institute’s mental health committee. He believes youth voices are crucial now as well as in the distant future.

O’Marie Barnes

Bishop McNamara Principal Dr. John Barnhardt Charlotte Williams, the Alsobrooks Youth Leadership Institute’s youth ambassador.

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Alsobrooks

Youth Leadership Institute The Alsobrooks Youth Leadership Institute brings youth leaders to the “drawing room” of involvement in the progress of Prince George’s County.

Tomorrow’s Leaders bring a fresh enthusiasm to the county they call home and a hope towards a more enriched life in Prince George’s.

Sharing ideas and having more of an active voice in local affairs helps steer youth towards a more participatory future.

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Frameworks for Economic Jus Fighting for Equitable Policy Frameworks For Economic Security and Prosperity Is A Way To Achieve Economic And Social Justice

By Frank Dexter Brown

“Economic justice is a component of social justice and welfare economics. It is a set of moral and ethical principles for building economic institutions, where the ultimate goal is to create an opportunity for each person to establish a sufficient material foundation upon which to have a dignified, productive, and creative life: Economic justice is the idea that the economy will be more successful if it is fairer, and that prosperity and justice go hand-in-hand rather than in opposition to one another; The goal is to create opportunities for all to thrive; Universal basic income, income equality by gender and race, equal opportunity for employment and credit, and allowing all to reach their full potential are key tenets of economic justice. …

“The concept of economic justice intersects with the idea of overall economic prosperity. There is a belief that creating more opportunities for all members of society to earn viable wages will contribute to sustained economic growth. When more citizens are able to provide for themselves and maintain stable discretionary income, they are more likely to spend their earnings on goods, which in turn drives demand in the economy. …

“Achieving economic justice can include addressing wage gaps and other deficiencies in individual earnings. For instance, there are members of the workforce employed in jobs that do not make full use of their skills. This typically leads to workers earning wages that do not reflect the full potential of their abilities. As a result, they do not have the highest income they are capable of earning.”

—Adam Hayes, “Economic Justice: Meaning, Examples of How to Achieve It,” Investopedia "In the Greater Washington DC region White households have a net worth 81 times more that black households. This gap is not the result of financial mismanagement by black people, rather it is the product an economic system that profits off of racism and extracts wealth from black and Latinx people faster than we can accrue it. We need new approaches designed to close these disparity gaps and produce shared prosperity."

—Darcelle Wilson, Greater Washington Community Foundation Understanding the impacts of economic injustice and the wealth gap between whites and people of color has long been an understudied and underreported issue. Oftentimes, the efforts of activist groups have been limited to attempts to secure civil, social and political rights.

Yet, at times, economic rights were emphasized to be a basic civil right.

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While the Civil Rights Movement, for instance, is remembered for how it tirelessly addressed civil and political rights, an economic vision was also significant. This vision demanded equity through an understanding of the ways the many layered justice and economic system that makes up the American economy, impacts working class people, in general, and especially lower-income black Americans and other people of color.

Indeed, a lack of focus on economic rights has not always been the case for civil rights activists. Think back to Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King’s efforts in 1966 in bringing protest actions to Chicago and surrounding communities when he and SCLC rejected criticism including from within the movement itself, and went north to fight against segregated housing and corresponding economic issues. Then let’s consider his efforts at the time of his assassination when he was in Memphis to support striking sanitation workers just as he was launching the Poor People’s Campaign (the “I Am A Man” slogans from Memphis symbolizing their actions remain one of the most powerful statements from that era).

As noted in early 2022 by Prosperity Now, a Washington, DC-based nonprofit group pushing for economic security and economic justice: “The Poor People’s Campaign is one of the better examples of the fight for economic justice during the Civil Rights Movement. …The campaign was established to combat persistent economic inequality in the United States, despite the passage of major civil rights legislation.

It demanded jobs, education, a fair minimum wage and housing for not only black Americans, but for all working class and poor people.

This campaign was important because it advocated for an ‘economic bill of rights’ that asserted the right for everyone to have sufficient income, illustrating that a true equality cannot be achieved without economic and financial prosperity.”

Now let’s consider the United States 50 years later: While black Americans, others of color and working people, in general, play some of the most active roles in our economy, structural barriers and inequities continue to hinder them from full and meaningful participation. Compared with other ethnic groups in the United States, blacks, especially black women, have always had the highest levels of labor market participation. Yet, blacks bear the biggest burden of economic hardships, especially during times of crisis, resulting in exacerbated downturns. Policy can counteract this disconnect. Specifically, targeted policies that advance blacks, particularly black women, can build a better economy for all.

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tice and Economic Prosperity “Yesterday’s segregation is today’s wealth gap,” Jonathan Welburn, a researcher for the Rand Corporation, who led a study analyzing what it would take to close America’s black-white Wealth Gap. “We like to pretend that we live in a race-neutral, merit-based society now, that this is all in the past, but you can’t erase history. It shows up in our wealth. For many, it shows up in the lack of wealth.”

As a Rand essay on Welburn’s study, explains: “White Americans hold ten times more total wealth than black Americans.”The essay by Doug Irving, continues by citing a 2021 Federal Reserve study: “[It] imagined a world in which racial inequality did not exist, [and] estimated that black households would hold five times more wealth in that world than they do in the real one.”

Consider these additional facts from other studies: The median income in 2022 was at $52,860 for U.S. black households. This was a slight increase from the previous years following the COVID-19 pandemic. In 1990, the median income among black households was $38,360 (in 2022 U.S. dollars). Overall, just 6 percent of black adults in the U.S. had annual earnings of $100,000 or more in 2021, according to an analysis of the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey. Further, the median wealth gap in America — the difference between the middle black household and the middle white household — is around $164,000. The average wealth gap? Around $840,000.

Using that as the measure, researchers have found it would take $7.5 trillion to halve the wealth gap, and $15 trillion to eliminate it.

Leaders of two groups today are especially heading national efforts to bring about economic parity and economic justice: Rev. William J. Barber II, who has picked up the mantle from Dr. King as a co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for a Moral Revival, and Marc H. Morial, president of the National Urban League.

Building an equitable policy framework of economic justice in Prince George’s

Now let’s turn to Prince George’s County and efforts to build on an equitable policy framework of economic justice. While there are segments of the Prince George’s County community who are doing well and exceed national rates of wealth creation and accumulation, there also are segments of the population below national medians and averages.

As a result, Prince George’s County’s social justice, philanthropic, and civil rights organizations and other groups have, as with civil rights leaders of the 1960s and 1970s, made economic policies and achieving economic justice a priority. As such, efforts are underway in Prince PRINCE GEORGE’S SUITE MAGAZINE

George’s County and throughout the DMV region, to bring greater support to these populations, indeed, to address the necessity to bring about economic justice and economic prosperity.

And this approach can be particularly timely through action now, since Prince George’s County has recently been confirmed as the largest job producer in the region. According to federal data compiled by George Mason University’s Stephen S. Fuller Institute, and as reported by the Washington Post columnist Robert McCartney, in January 2020 (the latest research available at this writing), Prince George’s added more jobs than Montgomery in 2016, 2017 and the first half of 2019, Prince George’s did so even though its population is 14 percent smaller than Montgomery’s. Looking at a longer period, from 2013 to 2018, Prince George’s jobs grew by 21,236, or 7.1 percent, according to state figures provided by the county. Montgomery added 19,540 jobs in the period, a gain of 4.3 percent.

Concurrently, the state of Maryland is first in diversity on the East Coast, first for gender equality, and second in the number of minority entrepreneurs.

So the opportunities are great for larger numbers of Prince George’s residents to benefit from these opportunities. Below we discuss the economic justice work of groups connected with Prince George’s County: Progressive Maryland; the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Prince George’s County; “iF, A Foundation for Radical Possibility”; and the City of Greenbelt Reparations Commission.

Progressive Maryland: A Local Group fighting for Local and Statewide Change

Larry Stafford Jr. is a veteran activist for social change. Indeed, his advocacy dates back to his teenage years, when he a student volunteer

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“By passing public campaign reform, elected leaders will have to go to the communities to listen to their issues. We think that clears the way for women and people of color to have a bigger say in the political process.” and later a staff member for the once venerable community organization ACORN (the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now). It was at ACORN that he established himself as a fighter for housing rights for the most marginalized in Prince George’s County, while also active in voter registration campaigns. He says of these early organizing years: “I grew up in a community that was lacking in a lot of resources. When I was trying to register folks to vote, many had become apathetic and felt that the political process was out of their reach and detached from their reality. Many elected officials have had oppressive relationships with those communities, operated at the detriment of the members they are supposed to serve. Our community was not able to have much of a voice, and it was justifiable to have become apathetic.”

Over the years he has further advanced his reputation as a community worker through his support of numerous electoral campaigns for candidates at all capacities in the county, especially in attempting to build a progressive movement for change. “A coordinated and strategic left is a powerful thing. I’m so proud with the great labor, faith, and community leaders we count as comrades,” Stafford has said of the importance of building coalitions in support of workers.

In 2015, Progressive Maryland became his calling, as he continued to lead campaigns connected with electoral politics, social change, equitable economic policies, including economic justice.

The Progressive Maryland Larry Stafford Education Fund has been a part of this advocacy, leading to successes in securing additional rights for working people such as a $15 minimum wage, paid sick leave, and police accountability.

As he told the Piper Fund, which is an initiative of the Proteus Fund (both connect resources for grassroots organizations dedicated to protesting democracy and envisioning reforms for inclusivity): “Our grassroots approach empowers communities to advocate for reforms to the economic and social systems that oppress them. That means training leaders from marginalized communities — particularly people of color, LGBTQ+ folks, and individuals with low incomes — in grassroots organizing at the Maryland People’s Leadership Institute,” Stafford says, adding, “It also means educating everyday voters about how state and city governments affect their lives (from job opportunities to air quality), and how, as voters, they can create positive 32.

change. More than 125,000 Marylanders across nine state chapters have joined the fight for justice, demanding a Maryland that works — for everyone.”

He continues: [My constituents] have a different understanding and relationship to money and politics. Folks talk about it in a different way. Racism and discrimination are a very central problem, so we must include race and class as a factor. You can’t come in with a colorblind analysis, because it’s an economic system — the way that race and class works — that benefits the powerful.”

And when creating a new political action committee in 2021, it was established to work hand-in-hand with Progressive Maryland’s campaign training program, which was designed to assist in preparing candidates to build campaigns teams when running for office. Stafford said: “The goal ultimately is to continue this progress we’ve made in moving the state leftward, both in the General Assembly and at the local level.” He adds this includes fighting for campaign reforms: “By passing public campaign reform, elected leaders will have to go to the communities to listen to their issues. We think that clears the way for women and people of color to have a bigger say in the political process.”

Finally, he explains of the need for all of the activities, particularly in building a base for achieving economic security and economic justice: “We need more progressive champions in Annapolis, and at the city and county level, particularly leaders and activists from underrepresented communities who will help advance a people’s agenda and progressive platform.” And Stafford adds: “We want to close [the wealth gap] and bring equity to the political process for regular working people.”

Leading Latino Businesses and Residents to New Opportunities

Jennifer N. Rios, an entrepreneur and institution builder, is known for her efforts to help to bring dreams alive. As the president and chairwoman of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Prince George’s County, she says of her activities, “I am definitely working around the clock to [help] Latinos living in the county have the things that they need to join the workforce or to start a business.”

For the Latino community to move forward over the next two decades, efforts such as Rios’ are integral. This is part of what has occurred over the last two decades. Indeed, according to U.S. Census data, the number of Hispanic-owned businesses in Maryland jumped more than 37 percent between 1997 and 2002, compared to a 31 percent jump nationally, a 2002 survey of business owners found. In Prince George’s County, the number of Hispanic-owned firms more than doubled — by far the largest increase. Prince George’s County gained the greatest share of Hispanic businesses in the 2002 survey.

More than 1,800 new businesses were reported in the county, a 120 percent increase from 1997. One-tenth of the county’s population

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was Hispanic or Latino in the early 2000s, according to Census data.

In Maryland, there were more than 25,000 Latino-owned businesses in 2007. According to recent census numbers, Latinos today make up nearly 12 percent of the population in Maryland with approximately 730,000 residents, and 58,000 Hispanic-owned businesses.

Today, more specific to Prince George’s County, Latinos make up 20.9 percent of the Prince George’s County population and make up a sizeable proportion of the county’s business owners. That includes 14,000 businesses across the county’s municipalities and unincorporated areas. Prince George’s County has the second-largest number of Hispanicowned companies and businesses, behind Montgomery County.

The Prince George’s County Economic Development Corporation, in collaboration with M&T Bank, hosted a Latino Business Accelerator program in 2023 that was highly commended. It was designed to provide entrepreneurs with the skills needed to build strong companies and spur economic growth in Prince George’s County. The seven-week Latino Business Accelerator program focused on business planning, establishing credit, managing bank accounts, and marketing, branding and licensing. Sessions were led by representatives of M&T Bank and the Prince George’s EDC and held entirely in Spanish.

Rios explains that while such opportunities for growth have been noteworthy over the past two decades, such efforts must be continued if broader Latino economic security and economic justice is to be reached. She says her background on the Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce served as her inspiration to keep moving forward, including establishing the Prince George’s County group in 2023, to advocate for ensuring equality, economic justice and a positive public image of Hispanic-owned businesses.

“We need fair treatment of all people.

Fairness to ensure that there is inclusivity around Latinos in Prince George’s County.

We must hold government accountable to ensure they are following through on their words. Putting their words into action. These are some of the greatest needs,” she explains.

In attempting to build on opportunities PRINCE GEORGE’S SUITE MAGAZINE PRINCE GEORGE’S SUITE MAGAZINE

such as the EDC program, Rios’ group pursues a number of basic pillars or goals: “We seek partnerships with local organizations and businesses to establish apprenticeships or internships for students in college or high school; we’re working with small businesses to help them gather funding, or documentation to help them create a business if that’s what they’re trying to do; as well as other things to

assisting small businesses in qualifying for larger government contracts. All of these services she provides for others that secures benefits, she says, makes her feel proud — proud that she is able to help people. In fact, she speaks glowingly of having recently been appointed by County Executive Angela Alsobrooks to the Prince George’s County Latino Advisory Board for a two-year term.

PHOTO: ROB ROBERTS // PRINCE GEORGE’S SUITE MAGAZINE & MEDIA

Jennifer Rios, Prince George’s Hispanic Chamber of Commerce

“By passing public campaign reform, elected leaders will have to go to the communities to listen to their issues. We think that clears the way for women and people of color to have a bigger say in the political process.” assist a small business overall — whether it’s certification with MDOT (Maryland Department of Transportation), certification as a veteran, whatever it might be.

“We also connect [business owners] with workforce operations, and we run training programs for new business aspirants. We even assist with getting people enrolled in English as a second language classes. We also assist in helping people to understand the process for gaining citizenship, permits to work in Prince Georges County, and the U.S., as well. So those are the major pillars we are working on.”

One of her biggest challenges, she says, is SUMMER 2022 SPECIAL EDITION 2024

Latino businesses in Maryland grew over 50% between 2007 and 2020.

“Together we are stronger; I don’t believe in dividing,” says Rios, adding, “We are stronger together, and Prince George’s County is pro33.

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iF, A Foundation for Radical Possibility…is led by CEOs Hanh Le (left) and Temi F. Bennett.

viding for a lot of black and brown.” iF, A Foundation for Radical Possibility

Diversity and inclusivity is also a focal point of a group making its name for how it gives out money.

No doubt, one of the most progressive and strikingly unique groups fighting for economic justice in Prince George’s County, and throughout the DMV, is the organization with the distinctive phrase that serves as its name: “iF, A Foundation for Radical Possibility.” iF leaders say it is committed to 34.

community voice and engagement by serving as “a community-centered philanthropic partner” whose grantmaking is founded on the belief that those who live at the sharpest intersections of systems of oppression… should have decision-making power over the distribution of resources in their communities.” iF, A Foundation for Radical Possibility adds: “As part of our community-centered transformation as a foundation, we are embedding community engagement in our programs and activities, including our grantmaking program.”

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They offer support through what they reference as “community power grants,” and says of its policies, “We are implementing a participatory grantmaking approach, which ‘cedes decision-making power about funding decisions — including the strategy and criteria behind those decisions – to the very communities that a foundation aims to serve.

We brought together community members from Washington, D.C., Montgomery County, and Prince George’s County, MD and Northern Virginia who decided on the grants that will support nonprofit organizations, which are undertaking community organizing and engagement and advocacy.” iF A Foundation for Radical Possibility is also a multi-racial, woman-led organization with a distinct and creative way of interacting with individuals and groups. Here’s an excerpt of the biographies of the leadership: Temi F. Bennett, co-CEO of iF, says, “I am a part of iF because black people deserve and are entitled to better,” and defines herself as “I am from the south side of Chicago, the City of Big Shoulders. My people are black people in America, black people in the Diaspora, and people of the global majority.”

Bennett has years of experience working as an attorney and policy expert for the Council of the District of Columbia. Hanh Le, also coCEO, adds: “I belong to iF because we are building the world we need and deserve; we do it with fight, joy and each other. In my work I strive for radical learning, collaboration and justice. I am amazed by people who live in deep service to healing, liberation and joy.” Le, who co-chairs the Metro-DC chapter of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy, says poetically of her Vietnamese roots, “I am from a hot and humid tropical delta perfumed by the sweetness of mangoes and the smokiness of coal fires…”

Ria Pugeda, senior program officer, says of her work and origins, “I have spent the last decade at iF because I believe in its vision and values. I am committed to building community power as part of the movement for racial justice. I love working with communities, organizations and institutions that are also committed to racial justice.”

Pugeda notes that “I am from the people of the global majority. My people are in all PRINCE GEORGE’S SUITE MAGAZINE

countries across the world. My family in particular is from the Philippines and North America.”

Kendra Allen, program officer for iF, says, “I am a part of iF because of its insistence on the root. I strive for greater philanthropic accountability to communities.”

And Allen says of her background, “I am from Piscataway land, now known as DC. My people came here by way of West Virginia, Alabama and North Carolina. My people are black folks, queer folks and those trying, failing and gaining towards liberation.”

The group does well in The call for reparations has had a growing voice and audience even after the passing of Rep. John Conyers, a longtime champion of the effort. describing how and why they are involved in philanthropic grantmaking: “Foundation support for lower in 2018 than it was in 2015 (both in terms of total dollar black communities has declined during the late 1990s and through amount and percentage of all funding for black communities).’

2006,” they explain in citing the Association of Black Foundation Additionally, preliminary data concerning overall funding for racial Executives (ABFE) and Hill-Snowdon Foundation’s Case for Funding equity work in 2020 suggests that majority of the increase did not reach black organizers and organizers of color. Resourcing black-led Black-led Social Change.

Underinvestment in black-led organizations, they explain, is often organizations and communities is necessary to support the infrastruccaused by anti-black racism, false narratives about their effectiveness ture for black institutional and political power to ensure a more just world for all.”

“I am from Piscataway land, now known as DC. My people came here by way of West Virginia, Alabama and North Carolina. My people are black folks, queer folks and those trying, failing and gaining towards liberation.”

–Kendra Allen and worthiness, and other biases. They note that according to the Philanthropic Initiative for Racial Equity’s Mismatched: Philanthropy’s Response to the Call for Racial Justice, “‘After Ferguson in 2014, in spite of increased attention to the role and impact of black organizers and the growing Black Lives Matter movement, funding for racial justice organizing in black communities was PRINCE GEORGE’S SUITE MAGAZINE

Connecting Economic Justice To Historic Wrongs And Relief Through Reparations

Finally, we briefly mention that the City of Greenbelt Reparations Commission is another way of attempting to achieve economic security and economic justice. In Greenbelt, as with a number of other jurisdictions and states nationally, the issue was placed before the voters. And on November 2021, a Greenbelt 21-person reparations commission was voted into power by voter referendum, 1,522 in favor and 910 against. Upon passage, the referendum was scheduled to go into immediate effect.

The issue was placed as a referendum before the voters on the city 2021 ballot through resolution 2094 in August 2021 by the Greenbelt City Council. Voters were asked to vote yes or no whether the city council should establish a 21-member commission to review, discuss, and make recommendations related to local reparations for African American and Native American residents of Greenbelt.

As part of the referendum, monthly meetings were to be scheduled, and minutes of the meetings were to be posted online for public accessibility. For a detailed review of recent proceedings, including the work of subcommittees, see the minute archives for minutes. The Tuesday, September 19, 2023 meeting is a good place to start. The Suite can be expected to provide updates in upcoming editions.

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The Power of Ethnic Diversity in A Local Story of Global Economic Empowerment, Equitable Decision-Making and Political Leverage The county’s diverse ethnic base is one of its strengths. County residents hail from more than 130 countries worldwide, and these global citizens are seeking, over the next 10 years and beyond, to achieve common goals through joint efforts to harness their potential economic power. Here are examples of what’s being done in the county to lift communities and address economic equity.

By Frank Dexter Brown

Prince George’s Suite Media received widespread national and regional attention with its Fall/Winter 2008/9 Special Edition cover story package “Unyielding Faith,” linking then President-elect Barack Obama’s historic election victory to win the White House to Prince George’s County’s distinctive diversity and demographics. Indeed, the county had been generating buzz and recognition for the unique community and economic opportunities flourishing at the time because of its global mix of residents.

The special edition articles, titled “A Nation of Obamas” and “Who Are the Prince Georgians? Barack Obama’s Presidential Election Victory: Prince George’s Demographics and the National Electorate,” framed Obama’s message of diversity, unity and broad ethnic and national cooperation to the county’s ascension in becoming one of the most diverse and influential jurisdictions in the world.

The articles described how many county residents believed Obama’s election as evidence that a “collective we,” such as that expressed locally, can indeed be a unifier of varied peoples and nationalities. As Joyce Alcober, an Oxon Hill resident of Filipino ancestry, told us: “I am so proud. I am so proud of this country to elect someone of his universality,” she mentioned, in speaking of Obama’s multiracial roots — an African father from Kenya, a Caucasian mother from Kansas, an Indonesian stepfather and an Indonesian half-sister — as being part of his appeal to voters in the county, and nationally.

Ms. Alcober continued: “I feel that since he’s been elected that every person of color, not only in the U.S., but around the world, will believe they’re first-class citizens.” Mrs. Aura Mendoza, a Cheverly resident who emigrated from Guatemala, agreed saying, “I look forward to Inauguration Day,” as did thousands who came out for the largest gathering ever for a United States presidential inauguration. “It’s exciting. I think this is good for the country.” Mendoza, whose husband emigrated from Mexico, added that immigration policy was one of her family’s main concerns. “We hope by his father being a foreigner and for his stepfather and mother and him to live in another country, that he can hear our words.”

Certainly, it was not all copacetic that followed. But nationally, some voices were heard. For example, Obama’s push for a fairer immigration policy through the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) 36.

program, which he established by executive decision (after Congress did not pass binding legislation), to protect eligible young adults — brought to the U.S. as children — from deportation, and to provide them with work authorization for temporary, renewable periods. And his administration’s fight for the Affordable Care Act, which passed both houses of Congress, thereby allowing the largest numbers of U.S. citizens ever to qualify for healthcare (including thousands of immigrants).

Undoubtedly, there was a conservative backlash to Obama’s actions.

And eight years later Donald J. Trump won the White House, and Republicans were elected as the majority in both houses of Congress, and they attempted to roll-back the Obama gains.

With Obama’s election, a first step for change had been achieved. Still, as The Suite noted at the time, the real work was yet to come. The question was whether the Obama coalition would live beyond the election.

The signs at that point, which were seen in places like Prince George’s, seemed to represent that it could. Folk seemed to understand — bringing about change, real change, takes time.

That article from 2008/9, which presented an assortment of demographic trends that portended the possibilities as they were occurring in Prince George’s, and were soon to come to the entire DMV, and indeed, in many regions nationally. In 2008, this included: •The county was the wealthiest majority- “minority” — or as better said today “community of color” — jurisdiction in the nation; •Prince George’s with people from more than 130 countries was considered one of the most diverse and suburban areas in the world; •Within Maryland, it ranked as the wealthiest, majority- black district, boasting an average black household income of $55,129 (the article reported, this was expected to increase to $76,560 by 2009) and with a median family income of $76,350.

But it must be noted: As it has been shown with recent reporting, we presented a caveat regarding the information of the wealth and status of Prince George’s black population. Some of the residents, especially those who are wealthier are leaving. As the late Ron Walters, professor

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n Prince George’s

A community of many colors, a county of great potential

of political science at the University of Maryland-College Park, who earlier had established himself as one of the nation’s most esteemed black political scientists while at Howard University, told us at the time 15 years ago, some of the county’s most affluent residents were leaving the jurisdiction for areas further south, such as Charles County.

But he added: “I wouldn’t imagine that the people who are here now and who have bought relatively expensive houses are going to leave in large numbers.” Nor did he expect businesses to leave. They Dr. Ron Walters “are just now beginning to find a stake in PGC,” he said. Fifteen years later, this is a situation that The Suite and The Greater Washington Community Foundation continue to explore.

A True Uniting Of Nations

We also reported that while the county was a majority-black jurisdiction of 841,515, it was much more diverse than its core population of mainly 505,550 African American residents. For instance, of the black population in 2004, the U.S. Census Bureau reported there were 22,363 African-born nationals and 34,841-U.S. born children of African nationals, totaling 57,204 residents of African descent living in Prince George’s County. This population had jumped 58.7 percent between 1990 and 2000 — from 6,646 to 13,238 — making it the PRINCE GEORGE’S SUITE MAGAZINE

fastest growing foreign-born population in the county.

But the diversity of the county reflected far greater population trends, particularly due to continued immigration. As with the African community, the Latino population increased, totaling 57,057, or 7.1 percent of the population. Asian/Pacific Islander residents, meanwhile, totaled 31,479 (or 3.9 percent of the population), with the largest nationalities being Filipino (26 percent of the county’s Asian population), Chinese, Korean and Indian.

It also was noteworthy that we reported that the county’s white population, once part of a majority white enclave dating before the 1980s, had remained sizeable. This was unlike many once majority white jurisdictions, which when there was a large influx of black (or others of color) residents, often resulted in massive white flight. According to the 2000 Census, 27 percent or 216,729 of the county population, was white.

Perhaps one of the reasons white residents, although in smaller numbers, have remained in the county were the continued substantial economic opportunities that had median white household earnings according to the 2000 Census at $59,937, and home median-value was $147,300 — the home median values were second only to Asians in Prince George’s County. In 2000, among the most affluent communities within the county were Asian household earnings at $58,906, and the Asian house median-value at $153,650. Among Latinos, median

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George Mason University Institute for Immigration Research

household income was $45,192 and home median value was $135,900.

Meanwhile, county diversity and economic power have continued to increase Today, some 15 years after that special edition, the economic strength of the county, and its diversity, has only grown stronger—and these are good signs for the next 10 to 20 years. Median incomes and home values have continued to rise. According to the 2023 Prince George’s County Health Department demographic report, with an estimated total population of 966,689, the median household income had increased to $94,507 from $71,260 as documented in the 2010 census. Meanwhile, the 2023 median housing unit value in the county was $337,800.

And the expanding economic vitality has carried across all ethnic groups. The 2023 county health department report shows Asian median household income continuing to lead the county at $102,901; white median household income is slightly less than Asian income at $102,491; black median household income is $96,278; and Latino median household income is $83,165.

And this financial strength has occurred while the county has grown more diverse. The Pastor Weaver Census reports that the largest ethnic groups were divided as follows: The African American or black population comprised 64.1 percent (581,000) of the total population — this is 4.47 times more than any other race or ethnicity.

Almost one-fourth or 23.4 percent (224,000) of county residents were born outside of the United States. The growth is tied to increased 38.

immigration, especially from Africa and the Caribbean.

For example, in 2019, according to George Mason University’s Institute for Immigration Research, the African population has grown considerably. That year, approximately 53,736 African immigrants called Prince George’s County home (26 percent of the county’s total immigrant population). The top five populations from African nations include: Nigeria (30 percent of the total African immigrant population), Cameroon (18 percent), Sierra Leone (13 percent), Ethiopia (9 percent) and Ghana (8 percent).

Pastor Jonathan Weaver has been committed to and predicting for more that 50 years that such a relationship between Africans from Africa and blacks in America would one day be a powerful alliance that could help all peoples. “As I consider the relationship of Africa to Prince George’s County’s growth, I am reminded of the words of someone who had a great influence on my life as it relates to diversity — the late Rev. Dr. James Robinson, who pastored the church in Harlem called the Church of the Masters, and he in fact was responsible for the creation of Operations Crossroads to Africa, which preceded the Peace Corps.” One of the things Weaver commented on that Robinson said that even has relevance today is how Robinson fought against how some tried to denigrate black people by referring to Africa as the ‘Dark Continent,’ as Jack London did with his novel Heart of Darkness. “Robinson would often say,” says Weaver, “‘The darkest thing about Africa is America’s ignorance of it.’ Here we are, literally 50 years after he made that comment, and we are still suffering with that illness of ignorance in the United States and, yes, it includes Prince George’s County. And I think for me, my passion ever since that first experience in Africa in 1971, really just deepened my desire so that we do something about that tremendous gulf that exists in the eyes and the minds of people, and yes, even in Prince George’s County. So for me, I am still very passionate about reaching out to people, sharing with them about my own experiences in Africa, which ironically include learning how to appreciate the diversity of ethnic groups on the continent of Africa.”

Rev. Weaver, who graduated with an MBA from Harvard, and was a founder of the Collective Banking Group that became the Collective Empowerment Group, works with some 300 pastors nationally. Rev. Weaver, who retired after 34 years as pastor of Greater Mt. Nebo African Methodist Episcopal Church in Upper Marlboro in June 2023, is now the presiding elder of the AME Church’s Potomac District, overseeing some 40 churches through the region. He has made more than 50 trips to Africa since his first visit in 1971, and presently travels there three times a year. He believes there’s a great deal that can be learned through collaborative educational and medical relationships with African peoples and those of the Caribbean. For instance, for decades he has led medical exchanges and founded and operated schools and other programs in Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Such exchanges need to be expanded, he says, and they work well with the county’s growing African community.

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Recent Elections Lead To More Diverse Futures And Greater Power Sharing

According to the 2020 Census figures there were increases in the Asian/Pacific Islander population, with the largest nationalities being Filipino (26 percent of the county’s Asian/Pacific Islander population), Chinese, Korean and Indian, had grown to 4.4 percent of the county’s total population (from 30,803 in 2000 to 41,436 in 2020).

But the county’s white population, continued to decline. There are now 109,060 white residents or 11.28 percent of the total population (down from 194,836 and 24.31 percent in 2000).

As the county’s residential population has grown more diverse, this too, as should be expected, has led to increased opportunities to influence public policy and political decision-making. This includes the Prince George’s most powerful legislative body, the county council. The November 2022 elections made this abundantly clear following the elections of three women born to African-born parents: Wala Blegay (District 6), Wanika Fisher (District 2), and Krystal Oriadha (District 7). These women also are representative embodiments of the hopes that were articulated some 15 years ago through the election of Barack Obama, and represent a broader direction in county policymaking that can be expected 10 to 20 years from now.

“I became an advocate talking about issues regarding justice, regarding healthcare, regarding a lot of things in our community, and I’m bringing that type of advocacy on the council,” Blegay emphasized during her campaign and since her election.

For example, consider Blegay’s path — not only was she elected to the council, but she also was named council vice chair for her first term [editor’s note: while no longer vice-chair, because of Blegay’s former capacity, we only profile her in this special edition. Fisher and Oriadha may be featured in upcoming issues of The Suite]. Blegay, whose father was born in Liberia and mother in Nigeria, is a trained attorney who also served for years as a community activist. She has blended her inter-

tions here and the large numbers of women of color working in nursing and other healthcare positions. With a large percentage of Filipino, Latin American, Nigerian, Jamaican, and black Americans, among other ethnicities working in the field, a public servant like Blegay links well with diverse communities and their needs both today and tomorrow.

This also is expressed for how she addresses immigration and development issues. She was greatly involved when former President Trump aggressively articulated deportation and other harsh policies that impacted communities of color. She argued throughout the county’s range of communities of color the need for their involvement in social and political activity. “I was telling everyone; we have to get more engaged.”

Blue line corridor developers join County Executive Angela Alsobrooks February 2023 in announcing $750 million in development coming to the area.

PHOTO: RAOUL DENNIS // PRINCE GEORGE’S SUITE MAGAZINE & MEDIA

This connects to advocating for small businesses in her district, as well as broader development projects. Blegay says, “District 6 is really the bed of development in the county. We have one of the largest projects in Prince George’s County, the Blue Line Corridor, which includes downtown Largo…developing up and Prince George’s County down the 214 corridor, from near Hampton Park, Councilmembers Krystal down to Addison Road station, and beyond when you Oriadha, Wala Blegay and get into District 7.” She adds “…Many people say you Wanika Fisher bring a unique, global perspective to the have minority groups doing very well in District 6,” council. and names Upper Marlboro, Mitchellville, downtown Largo, Westphalia, Woodmore as areas experiencing some economic progress, but notes, “We’re still trying to get more quality development. …Let’s bring the amenities closer to est in healthcare and the law, with a commitment to civil rights, worker’s home.

And this is not only the nice stores, grocery stores, and retail, but rights and women’s rights, educational attainment, and immigration policy. This connects to a local educational background that took her also the green space that we can take advantage of.” from graduating with a B.A. in government and politics from the University of Maryland, College Park, and a J.D. from The American University, Washington College of Law. Her efforts to strengthen healthcare needs and for workers is reflected in the time she spent as staff attorney for the DC Nurses Association, during which she advocated to improve the work environment of nurses and working families. This background can well serve the diverse populations of the county because of the number of medical instituPRINCE GEORGE’S SUITE MAGAZINE

A Local And National Immigrant Powerhouse

Gustavo Torres of CASA de Maryland and its political unit, CASA in Action, says Blegay’s fighting spirit is the type that is needed to benefit the county into the next two decades. And this is why CASA, one of the largest and most influential electoral groups in the region fighting for immigrant rights, endorsed Blegay’s candidacy, by saying Blegay’s an extraordinary woman and immigrant, who is exactly the type of com-

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mitted progressive change-leader who can produce real results that its members seek.

“Whether it is fighting for nurses or achieving justice for immigrants, Wala Blegay is a proven leader. This fearless attorney will shake up the council, making sure that working Prince George’s families are the topmost priority. We need Wala on the council and will fight like hell Gustavo Torres to get her elected,” Torres said with his endorsement during the first campaign.

Torres, who has become recognized globally for his vision and advocacy in the immigrant-right movement, has been executive director of Casa de Maryland, the largest Latino and immigrantrights organization in the Mid-Atlantic, for more than 30 years. CASA began as a regional organization working in Montgomery and Prince George’s Counties in 1985, but under Torres’ involvement in 1991 to help organize day laborers, and then his leadership beginning in 1994, the group has grown considerably, flourishing from being a small non-profit operating from a church basement to a national community service and immigrant mobilization powerhouse.

Members soon moved from working only in Maryland, to organizing in Virginia and then Pennsylvania. In 2021, Georgia became the next state for its services. A saying he became known for in his early years of advocacy, remains true to today: “We all have rights in the community, but also, we all have duties in the community.”

Casa’s advocacy efforts have developed from a small social service agency, with a limited staff to an organization now with about 150 staff and a membership of more than 97,000.

It has gone from exclusively working with immigrants from Central America to serving

those in need from more than 53 countries globally. These efforts, often providing the basics for economic security and economic

L. Askew, M.D., as president and chief executive officer of the Meyer Foundation, is viewed as a promising move for the future of the county, and in achieving greater diversity and economic security — with healthcare as a fundamental priority. Until recently, Dr. Askew was the deputy chief administrative officer for Health, Human Services, and Education for Prince George’s County, with responsibilities of oversight of the county’s health department, department of social services, and department of family services. These experiences are significant steps on the path that has brought him to one of the region’s most venerable philanthropic and service institutions.

Dr. Askew, who holds a Doctor of Medicine degree from the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, and earned a B.A. in psychology and social relations from Harvard University, spoke strongly about what is attractive about the foundation’s projects and what Meyer has been “doing with its community partners across the region — work to support organizations and projects that build power to achieve a racially and economically just Greater Washington.” This is especially true since the foundation broadened its mission in 2015 “to pursue and invest in solutions that build an equitable Greater Washington community in which economically disadvantaged people thrive.”

This is important when considering the healthcare needs of black and Latino women, who are more likely to be uninsured compared to the rest of the U.S. population. And because of conservative legislative indifference to the healthcare needs of children in lowerincome families, the economic justice connec-

“[Meyer has been working] with its community partners across the region — work to support organizations and projects that build power to achieve a racially and economically just Greater Washington.”

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justice, have sought to improve the lives of new arrivals, and immigrant families, in general, and often working to provide a path towards citizenship. This includes: campaigning for immigrant driving privileges in Maryland and Virginia as well as immigrant drivers’ privacy; in-state tuition for DACA recipients in Maryland and Virginia; job training and educational training for English as a second language; as well as fighting for rentcontrol legislation. CASA also has created a family of organizations, including CASA in Action, a 501 C4 that has helped to win electoral victories on behalf of candidates who embrace policies that benefit the immigrant community.

Overall, these activities are only a few examples of Torres’ and Casa’s embrace of diversity for the economic good of all.

Philanthropy and prioritizing health: features of the county roadmap to strength

Similarly, the recent appointment of George SPECIAL EDITION 2024

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tion to health is even more evident. Consider the ongoing reductions in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), which are exposing dangerously dramatic conditions. More than two million children, which even is considered a severe undercount, have been removed from the Medicaid and CHIP programs since the end of the pandemic, reductions that researchers have charged are among the highest that have occurred in the U.S. since the beginning of the Medicaid program in 1965. More than 70 percent of the children and families that have experienced a loss of health insurance did so because of “procedural matters” employed by state officials nationally. Such conditions are among the harshest examples of economic and social injustice, and is why calls for universal healthcare remains an issue — even after the passage of the Affordable Care Act a decade ago. This will remain a considerable challenge nationally in the decades to come, and points to why the appointment of Dr. Askew to executive leadership at the Meyer Foundation is so significant.

Having been appointed by former President Barack Obama as the first chief medical officer of the Administration for Children and Families in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, where Dr. Askew provided consultation on the development of policies and initiatives that addressed the health needs of children and families facing social and economic challenges. It’s expected his position with the Meyer Foundation can directly connect the last 15 years since when the Obama coalition was formed with a message of “yes we can,” to the county continuing to move forward over the next two decades.

As County Executive Angela Alsobrooks says of Dr. Askew’s work as part of her administration during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic: “He was an essential part of ensuring we could deliver vaccines and testing to the residents of our county in an equitable way.”

She adds his commitment to children over the years was crucial for the county and should assist in spurring county healthcare policies for diverse populations into the future. “His PRINCE GEORGE’S SUITE MAGAZINE

passion for child advocacy was also apparent as he began our efforts to become the first county in the nation to be designated a ‘child friendly county.’”

This commitment seems integral if improved health outcomes are to be part of a more inclusive and equitable economic justice future — even as the number of families living in poverty continue to decline in Prince George’s County.

Taking Needed Steps To Growth: Following A Climate Plan Of Action

Finally, let’s again hear from Pastor Weaver as we further consider how diversity can move the county forward over the next two decades. Weaver’s commitment and passion for service connects well with the ideas of Askew and the Meyer Foundation, of County Executive Alsobrooks, of Councilmember Wala Blegay, of Casa in Action’s Gustavo Torres, and so many others, as Pastor Weaver synthesizes all of their ideas about the potential powerful future that lies ahead.

Further, consider again O b a m a ’s 2008 election, and the policies that followed, particularly as related to climate change. With the climate crisis unfolding as one of the world’s, and therefore the county’s, most serious issues moving ahead, President Obama’s support for the 2015 Paris Agreement was crucial, along with that of other leaders from some 196 nations globally.

Weaver makes salient points, for instance, when speaking of what needs to happen today and tomorrow. Already, the county’s November 2021 Climate Action Plan, developed by the Prince George’s County Commission, is considered by some climate experts as one of the most progressive agendas in the nation in how it presents the adaptation and mitigation policies needed to SPECIAL EDITION 2024

ensure greater county resiliency through an equitable and just transition from a fossilfuel economy to the renewable-energy economy that can be expected to be in place within the next 20 years. [Editor’s note: see an upcoming issue of The Suite for a detailed review of the county’s Climate Action Plan.]

Certainly, this needs to be broadly communicated and embraced throughout the county. And many diverse messengers will be needed to carry these ideas forward. Weaver brings it back to thinking of Dr. James Robinson’s work some 50 years ago through Operation Crossroads to Africa. Regarding catastrophic climate change and the increase of extreme weather events, particularly as Global South nations and their people who have immigrated worldwide, Weaver adds: “I say this is an urgent matter, this is a crisis that we are facing. So, I think this is really something that needs to be addressed as soon as possible. Because of the harmful effects on

all of us. And oftentimes we don’t think we are being physically affected by the atmospheric issues, but we are. So, it’s all the more reason why we ought to be taking a look at this with a very serious sense of urgency. Too often within the African American community we’re looking at curative care when we really ought to be looking at preventive care.”

And he notes that the renewable-energy economy can better ensure a just transition can be achieved for Prince George’s County to serve as a global model for its commitment to diversity, equity and economic justice.

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Q& A

Mark Lawrence Economic Inclusion Is Good For Business

Who Is Mark Lawrence?

Mark Lawrence is a visionary leader and innovator who is passionate about the enabling power of innovation and entrepreneurship to create new industries and new opportunities that directly impact communities. He possesses over twenty-six years of professional experience, including eight as an entrepreneur, and eighteen years at two “Big 4” firms. He leverages his professional experience to help support economic empowerment in under-resourced and underserved communities.

Lawrence is currently the founder and managing partner of Inncuvate, an award-winning entrepreneurship-led economic development enterprise, with headquarters in Largo, Maryland.

Inncuvate specializes in creating purpose-built programs and places. The company merges ideation, invention, incubation, commercialization, and collaboration into local innovation centers that transform the communities where they are located. Lawrence founded Inncuvate to focus on advancing the profession of entrepreneurial ecosystem building as a forward-looking economic development and community wealth building model.

Prior to founding Inncuvate, Lawrence served in several senior management roles in the management consulting industry. He served as a senior manager in the technology consulting practice at Deloitte Consulting LLP and an associate at Booz Allen Hamilton where he led both small and large consulting teams to provide trusted advisory services to C-suite executives of government agencies and large commercial enterprises. He has also led business development and capture management initiatives.

Lawrence is active on boards of several entrepreneur focused organizations and a mentor for several entrepreneur development organizations. Nationally he serves on the board of the Startup Champions Network and is a member of the Collaborative Advisory Group for the Kauffman Foundation’s sponsored Ecosystem Building Leadership Project. Locally, he serves on the board of Words Beats and Life, the Bowie Business Innovation Center, and the Prince

Georges County Chamber of Commerce. Lawrence is a mentor for the Entrepreneur Development Network in the District of Columbia (EDN-DC). He is also an entrepreneur in residence for the Techstars DC JPMorgan Chase accelerator and Bowie State University Entrepreneurship Innovation Center.

Prince George’s Suite: What is Inncuvate and how does it impact the broader business community here?

Lawrence: Inncuvate is an [entrepreneurship-led], economic empower-

ment enterprise. We focus on purpose-built programs and places that inspire innovation and creativity. We aim to decrease the barriers to entrepreneurship and wealth creation by providing the opportunity and infrastructure for folks to explore their dreams. We also support local municipalities and economic development organizations. We do anything from working directly with entrepreneurs and people who support them, to advising higher education institutions and community development organizations on how to build entrepreneurial communities.

Prince George’s Suite: Why does the term “economic justice” have meaning for you?

Lawrence: My [business’s] tagline is, "Innovation Solutions that Create

Equity." Everyone has talent, but not everyone has opportunities. For me, economic equity is matching talents and opportunities. Economic inclusion means building that bridge, whether it’s through systems, tools, programs, [or] other things.

e

Prince George’s Suite: Where is Prince George’s County today and where might it be, say, 20 years from now, as far as economic inclusion goes? Is the county moving in the right direction?

Lawrence: To achieve economic inclusion — which I do believe is achievable — we’ve

really got to focus on economic resiliency. [Prince George’s County is] heavily dependent on one or two industries. We have a few people with some wealth. We have a small semblance of a middle class, and then we still have low to moderate income [classes]. Some people are doing well, but some people still need access to opportunities. When we talk about programs and things that we want to implement, we always want to make sure we address all three groups. Entrepreneurship is that tool for economic growth. I’m not saying everyone has to be a tech entrepreneur or a high-growth or innovation entrepreneur, but even [if you] open a local food mart in your community, you solve an access problem. Using this idea of entrepreneurship to redevelop our neighborhoods creates inclusion for business owners and the folks who start those businesses. We have to make sure that for low-, [and] moderate-income people, we reduce poverty by giving people pathways to create jobs and opportunities.

Prince George’s Suite: What motivates people with wealth to make sure there is a continuing cycle of wealth building?

Lawrence: If they’re business owners, what’s in it for them is building the community

to keep their business in the community or in the county. From a self-interested perspective, if they invest in some of these programs, there are tax breaks, and they can relieve their tax burden. Many billionaires have pledged to give away their wealth. It sounds odd, but technically they’re not really giving it away, they’re giving it to their communities, and to the world. They’re finding causes they’re passionate about and they’re heavily investing in them. If we create a system in which people can exponentially invest in causes they care about, it’ll go beyond the individual family and legacy building.

Prince George’s Suite: The county has some challenges when it comes to the idea of giving non-profit support, and developing and maintaining wealth, especially the development side of it. How do we address those challenges?

Lawrence: You need to create a brand, so that [corporations] can give. We need more

support of philanthropic foundations. The Greater Washington Community Foundation does a lot [of] investing, but we also need other entities to commit and invest. You see initiatives like Grow Prince George’s Training Program and Strengthening Prince George’s, but they need to fall under one umbrella, one vision, one plan. We also need to educate nonprofits. Usually, someone will start a nonprofit because they see a problem in their community and want to solve it. I applaud that, but we need nonprofits that grow at scale, going after the big multi-year foundational grants. Many of them go after government grants, but they need to combine those funds with some private foundation money. We don’t have as much private foundation investing in the county as we see in our other jurisdictions — not for lack of trying — but if we solve that problem, there will be other resources.

Prince George’s Suite: What else do you want to see happen that would allow for a greater diversity in opportunity?

Lawrence: We need some of our small, medium-sized businesses to grow and for those

folks to have exits to sell those businesses. Once they sell those businesses, they become philanthropists. They can then spend time on some other challenges in the community because they’ve had successful business models. We need to do some better storytelling around that, so more people see that this can be done. We also need to look at making policies that don’t inhibit businesses’ growth and success so that they don’t have to leave the county. If you look at places like Birmingham, Alabama, or Chattanooga, Tennessee, they’ve switched their mindset to support entrepreneurs and small businesses, and that’s transitioned and changed their economies.

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The executive order was signed today at Fearless Tech in Baltimore. In 2009, the innovative company was created in owner Delali Dzirasa’s basement in Laurel, Maryland. In pursuit of the American Dream, the company has become the largest software developer and the largest black-owned business in the region. Fearless Tech focuses on creating tools and experiences that empower people and change lives, and supporting educational and workforce development initiatives throughout the state. The Moore-Miller administration is proud to have Fearless Tech alongside in this endeavor to bolster Maryland’s economy.

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Start Here?

Gov Wes Moore Launches MEC, Supports Enough Act And $10 Million Against Poverty In Maryland The Maryland Economic Council Governor Wes Moore signed an executive order to promote Maryland’s economic future through the creation of the Maryland Economic Council in 2023. The council will be the command center for analysis and recommendations for the Moore-Miller Administration to effectively implement economic policies that achieve growth, diversify our workforce, and merge Maryland’s assets and growing industries.

“For too long, Maryland has underutilized its assets because it lacked a cohesive economic strategy. This council will change that,” said Gov. Wes Moore. “The Maryland Economic Council will help build the robust economic strategy our state needs and our state deserves. For the next decade to be Maryland’s decade, we must invest in the infrastructure, technology, and workforce to grow the industries that will dominate the next half century of the world economy.”

The Moore administration has set, as priorities, investing in AI technology, creating jobs to achieve 100 percent clean energy by 2035, supporting the quantum computing industry, and growing Maryland’s cybersecurity industry. The council is an all-star team designed to study Maryland’s current economic standing and to create potential solutions for change. Today, even with America’s lowest unemployment rate and highest median income, Maryland’s economy lags behind the rest of the country’s expansion.

ENOUGH ACT Targets Cycle Of Poverty And Wealth Building In Jan 2024, Governor Wes Moore unveiled the ENOUGH Act, a first-in-the-nation state-level effort to end concentrated poverty.

“ENOUGH will be the rallying cry all throughout the state of Maryland,” Moore said. “We’ve had enough with poverty, crime and a system where generational challenges go unaddressed. We’ve had enough of the same neighborhoods facing the same issues – and coming up with the same solutions that drive the same results,” said Gov. Moore. “We will help transform distressed communities into places with top schools; good jobs, safe neighborhoods, quality housing, and economic momentum. That’s the future we’re trying to build.”

The ENOUGH Act uses place-based interventions in communities with disproportionately high numbers of children living in poverty—rural, suburban and urban. Communities that show an ability to assess existing pathways to success, coordinate across sectors, and address challenges strategically and in a holistic manner can apply for competitive grant funding of up to $10 million per year. The program will be run through the Governor’s Office of Children.

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Democracy And The Public Square CONTINUED FROM PAGE 26

streets. We need to enforce the laws to keep everyone in their communities safe. It is not fair to the children not to be able to grow up, attend high quality schools that allow them to excel and to one day raise families of their own.

On The Election and Voters How does it differ from the historically moderate agenda?

The moderate agenda has always been heavily influenced by the financial position of the people involved. Now we’re getting to a place where there’s more middle class and upper-class black [people] and it’s changing the black vote. It’s not as monolithic as it once was.

Sean Wilson, host of “The Political Guy” podcast Crime: The longtime political observer offers this advice for progressive Democrats on how politicians should tackle the uptick in violent crime: “There’s been a dramatic increase. What measures we take aren’t going to be too progressive.”

“We have to find ways to make the taxpayers and voters happy, but right now every day they see something happen. Theft or carjacking victims are paying out of pocket to retrieve vehicles when they’re stolen, and then to fix their cars. How do people get back and forth to work while waiting to find their vehicle and get it fixed?”

PHOTOGRAPHY BY ROB ROBERTS

Courtney Green, President, South County Democratic Club and a rising star in Prince George’s county politics.

Courtney Finklea Green, President, South County Democratic Club Crime: To this Georgia-born Democrat, the idea of a progressive agenda is shifting.

“People are not looking for the police to let people off easily and not be prosecuted for serious crimes,” Green says. “People want crimes prosecuted. Recent polling shows, overwhelmingly, black people in Maryland and Prince George’s County want the laws applied.”

“However,” she continues, “[black Marylanders] want equal treatment under the law. My son isn’t driving yet, but when he is driving, I want him to be treated with the same courtesy and respect [from a police officer] that a white driver would get. However, if he broke the law, charge him, but do it with respect.”

Education: Wilson ran for school board in 2022.

He explained his platform. “We’ve got to ensure we look at the future.

Everyone’s not going to college. We’ve got to be cognizant of that reality.

We should build around our economy, tap into industries close to us like government. We’ve made strides, but we need to reach greater heights with career training education programs and expand internships. We have dual enrollment with high school and college. We should explore dual enrollment with trade programs so students are becoming career ready upon leaving high school. We should find some ways to do experiential learning -- project-based, technology, how to use drones. It’s our future. We’ve seen a huge amount of students not in the classroom. We need to explore virtual options for other ways to educate students who are not coming to the classroom.”

On the Election and Voters: Voters bear responsibility not just to vote, but also to carefully research the candidates before acting.

Look for who’s in office, delivering for voters. “If [incumbents] haven’t fulfilled their duties, don’t give them [a] second chance. Voting for [incumbent] candidates is an on-the-job performance review.

Education: Safety and quality education, she says, are of paramount importance.

“We need high quality schools,” she says, “but we also need to have safe

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Are You In? Let’s Make Good On The Promise Of Prince George’s County

By Tonia Wellons

In the mid-nineties, just as I was completing graduate school, black Enterprise Magazine (hard copy) issued a special feature on the newly elected, first black County Executive of Prince George’s County, Wayne K. Curry. The story telegraphed all the promise of his leadership and signaled the local and national significance of the moment. The feature asserted the novelty of Prince George’s County becoming the first “majority-minority” jurisdiction in the country, which had experienced such a shift and where incomes and education levels went up, and not down, as a result. The visuals, the Tonia Wellons stories, the pride, and the hope were all confirmation that Prince George’s County was, in fact, where I needed to be.

Now more than 25 years later, a lot of good has happened. We’ve since experienced four black County Executives and our first women to hold the post. Wayne Curry’s administration ushered in a new day for the County – from AAA bond ratings to FedEx Field and accompanying Community Benefit Agreements (CBA’s) that continue to support our quality of life and needs today. Over the same timeframe, Metro expanded its footprint such that there are more stops in Prince George’s County than anywhere else in the region. The new regional healthcare system in Largo is set to attract additional major investments to the County. The University of Maryland, Bowie State University, and Prince George’s County Community College each have highly respected (new) leaders and each are experiencing growth in attendance (or applications) and investment capital.

The once wealthiest majority-minority county is now the second wealthiest ‘majority black and Hispanic’ jurisdiction in the United States and has struggled to maintain that position because of so many push-pull factors.

They include a painfully embarrassing prior leadership failure which placed a stain on the County for many years and several economic crises where Prince George’s was consistently one of the hardest hit jurisdictions in not only the region, but in the country (2008 mortgage crisis, 2011 economic crisis, and 2019 federal government shut-down, followed by COVID-19). While we have boldly carried the banner of progress for black and Brown people, we’ve also shouldered a set of unique race-based difficulties– from predatory lending practices that targeted middle class black people, to persistent undervaluation of property and real estate in black and Brown neighborhoods, and inequitable investments by public and private interests.

In fact, our county has practically been red-lined by corporations and federal public investments, or lack thereof in some cases. To this point, a 2023 Urban Institute study shows Prince George’s County annually receives significantly less public-private investment per household ($17,973) compared to Loudoun County, ($44,257); Fairfax County,

($30,546); and Montgomery County, ($23,825). Over a 15-year period, this investment gap has totaled about $340 billion dollars. Our County Executive has warned that this disparity threatens Prince George’s County’s very economic security and its prosperity.

To bring this full circle, four years ago, when I started my tenure as president and CEO of the Greater Washington Community Foundation, I committed to addressing the unacceptably low level of institutional and corporate philanthropic investment in the County. The Community Foundation’s capital campaign – Together, We Prosper – and newly launched investment strategies are designed to increase economic mobility with a north star of closing our region’s racial wealth gap.

We believe that through advocacy, alignment, and strategic investments across sectors and industries, along with doubling down our investment in neighborhoods where people are struggling the most, that this ambition is within reach. As such, we’ve joined forces with our peers and partners in philanthropy to offer our shared commitment to invest in innovative solutions that disrupt the status quo and model the economically just future Prince George’s County requires and deserves.

We are also excited by the organizations and coalitions that are organizing or reorganizing geographically and thematically in major corridors across the county on issues from housing to small business preservation and investment. Groups like the Purple Line Corridor Coalition, the Blue Line Coalition, Enterprise Community Partners Faith-based initiative, the Collective Empowerment Group, and the newly formed BOW Collective are leading the way through partnerships and collaborations with an eye toward economic mobility and justice.

Now all that we are missing is you! So here are my burning questions for you to consider: what is our collective ambition for economic justice and opportunity for Prince George’s County? What other collective impact efforts, partnerships, and goals can help us chart a vision for Prince George’s County in 2050, nearly 25 years from now, and more than 50 years from Wayne Curry’s promise? Collectively, who are we in this moment and more importantly, who do we want to become given our unique status as a majority black-Hispanic jurisdiction? How might we align our interests such that our shared ambitions persist and prevail beyond a single term – County Executive, School Board, County Council, CEO of Schools, or roles like mine at The Community Foundation?

Together, Prince Georgians, let’s responsibly map our way forward. Are you in?

If so, we invite you to learn more by visiting us at thecommunityfoundation.org or contacting Darcelle Wilson at dwilson@thecommunityfoundation.org.

Indeed, “Together We Prosper.”

Tonia Wellons is president and CEO of the Greater Washington Community Foundation

JOIN US AS WE BUILD A FUTURE WHERE

Every Person Prospers SOME SAY THE RACIAL WEALTH GAP IS TOO BIG TO SOLVE; WE BELIEVE IT’S TOO URGENT TO BE IGNORED. AND WE’RE TAKING ACTION. At the Greater Washington Community Foundation, we are galvanizing a united coalition of donors and doers to advance a bold vision – grounded in equity and economic justice – that will grow opportunity and secure prosperity for all who call this region home. Together we’ll invest in powerful economic strategies and put them to work in the parts of our community experiencing the deepest disparities to help close our region’s racial wealth gap.

To accomplish this, we have launched Together, We Prosper, a campaign to jump-start our vision of economic justice and shared prosperity. Our success will require participation and support from private enterprises, government, nonprofits, foundations, and generous donors like you.

JOIN OUR CAMPAIGN FOR ECONOMIC JUSTICE. TOGETHER, WE PROSPER. For more information on how to join Together, We Prosper, visit togetherweprosperDMV.org or email us at campaign@thecommunityfoundation.org.