When Vennard Wright promotes the two companies he founded in the last four years, he also explains how the technological talent is developing in his home county – a place that has overcome obstacles to establish itself as one of the drivers of Maryland’s strongest growth.
The change in Prince George’s County is obvious to people who have long lived and worked in this majority black community that borders Washington, DC and the Potomac River. The county has almost fully recovered from the considerable job losses caused by the pandemic and has bounced back from the Great Recession, when it had the highest foreclosure rate in the state.
Why we wrote this
A focused story
Like many places, Prince George’s County, Maryland, has struggled during the pandemic. As a majority-Black community, it also faced historical discrimination. Yet it emerged as an economic bright spot.
Signs of the county’s revitalization range from splash announcements, such as the FBI last year choosing Prince George as the site of its headquarters, to ambitious infrastructure projects, such as plans for 10 subway stations of additional meters. Between 2011 and 2021, the county led the state in job growth. The county’s rapid recovery could provide some models for other communities.
“This growth is not by accident,” says David Iannucci, president and CEO of Prince George’s County Economic Development Corp., pointing to efforts by the county and state to stimulate jobs, training opportunities and federal funding. .
When Vennard Wright promotes the two companies he founded in the last four years, he also explains how the technological talent is developing in his home county – a place that has overcome obstacles to establish itself as one of the drivers of Maryland’s strongest growth.
The change in Prince George’s County, Maryland, is obvious to people who have long lived and worked in this community bordering Washington, DC and the Potomac River. The county has almost fully recovered from the considerable job losses caused by the pandemic and has bounced back from the Great Recession, when it had the highest foreclosure rate in the state.
Prince George, with a population of almost 1 million people, is also the second richest part of the majority of America – the black county – just surpassed by the neighboring Charles County – but the businesses and people here have struggled during the pandemic, like the rest of the country. The county’s rapid recovery could provide some models for other communities.
Why we wrote this
A focused story
Like many places, Prince George’s County, Maryland, has struggled during the pandemic. As a majority-Black community, it also faced historical discrimination. Yet it emerged as an economic bright spot.
“This growth is not by accident,” says David Iannucci, president and CEO of Prince George’s County Economic Development Corp., pointing to efforts by the county and state to stimulate jobs, training opportunities and federal funding. .
Signs of the county’s revitalization range from splash announcements, such as the FBI last year choosing Prince George as the site of its headquarters, to ambitious infrastructure projects, such as plans for 10 additional Metro metro. Between 2011 and 2021, the county led the state in job growth.
A combination of federal dollars and the prevalence of solipreneurs — people who individually own and operate a business — has created a renaissance in the county over the past few years, says Mr. Wright, a lifelong resident of Prince George. He worked with a county workforce development group to help hire interns and young people interested in working in information technology.
It emerges from the encounters
Coming out of the 2007-2009 recession, Prince George’s County faced the highest rate of foreclosures in the state and recovered more slowly than its neighbors, Mr. Iannucci says. In the years that followed, county officials and community leaders, including the County Council, focused on a strategic plan that encouraged business growth, adding 50,000 new jobs in the 2010. These efforts have been fueled by a number of training programs – mostly paid for by federal funding – offered to county residents focused on how to run businesses.
Resources include artificial intelligence training, small grants towards marketing and technology costs, and specific training with a focus such as navigating government contracts.
Prince George’s County has a lot going for it, from public transportation to an educated population to proximity to Washington, says Dan Reed, regional policy director for Greater Greater Washington, a policy and news organization focused on the region. . The wider region is expensive — the median home price in the Montgomery County neighborhood is $600,000 — and there’s only so much room for expansion. But Prince George’s County also has development opportunities, Reed says, like a medical center that’s under construction.
Historically, many community members have felt that Prince George was often overlooked for investment and development opportunities. Local organizers point to a long and complicated history of racist policies, including housing segregation and delayed school integration, as a partial explanation.
Prince George became a majority black county in the early 1990s as people with jobs in Washington sought to move out of the city to the suburbs, and the community is now 60% black with a growing Hispanic population.
“Probably the majority of the citizens of the county will tell you that they do not think that they have been treated well when it comes to quality sales, and when it comes to large employers,” says Mr. Iannucci. “There is an investment gap in the Washington region when it comes to Prince George’s County.”
Maryland officials too raised equity arguments during and after his attempt to woo FBI headquarters across the border from Washington.
A report 2023 from the Urban Institute found that the investment was not evenly distributed in the Washington region. Notably, the average investment per household in Prince George’s County is significantly lower than in other counties in the area.
New dual business applications
Until the 1970s, the county’s economy was primarily agricultural, says Brittney Drakeford, a senior planner in Prince George’s County’s planning department. After reformulation as a residential community, a flood of initiatives and projects in recent decades has helped to use the county in a competitive economy.
One of the most prominent efforts, a waterfront development called National Harbor, opened in 2008, with a conference center, casino, hotels, retail stores, and a distinctive 180-foot wheel on the banks of the Potomac.
The number of new business applications in the county more than doubled between 2012 and 2022, according to US Census data. That increase far outstripped that of neighboring Montgomery County, one of the wealthiest places in the state, which saw an increase of about 50% during the same period.
Prince George’s also continues to attract investment in businesses and infrastructure, said Angela Alsobrooks, the county executive, making both points in a state of the economy address in June.
“These investments show that Prince George’s County is the economic engine of the state of Maryland,” said Ms. Alsobrooks, who is also Maryland’s Democratic candidate for the United States Senate.
Although there are promising signs of growth, county officials continue to face the challenge of tax revenue stemming from Prince George’s historic identity as a bedroom community rather than a partly commercial one, partly residential. And county leaders remain concerned that business tax revenue is lagging other neighboring counties.
Sustaining black businesses
Funding dedicated to empowering business owners has fluctuated recently, says Mr. Wright, a chief information officer for the county before starting Wave Welcome, a technology and digital services company in 2020 and, in 2023, PerVista , a company that uses AI to prevent. school guns.
As a majority black county, Prince George “has been deeply affected by George Floyd,” says Mr. Wright, referring to the 2020 protests against police brutality. “A lot of money flows,” says Mr. Wright – including from a 49.5 billion dollars of collective commitment from the 50 largest US corporations.
Over time, that influx of money disappeared. Across the United States, approx 3% of companies are Black owned, and venture capital investment in Black businesses down about 70% in 2023reports data company Crunchbase. Maryland has the third-highest share of black-owned businesses in the country, after Washington, D.C. and Georgia, according to the Pew Research Center.
Although Mr. Wright doesn’t see much new investment in startups this year, there are plenty of consulting opportunities and government contracts in the county, he says.
County organizers see economic success as working in concert with social progress. And, Ms. Drakeford adds, the current growth is “part of a long trajectory” that has reached and flowed through various county administrations.
“It’s not just about a county remembering. It’s about righting wrongs, in a way,” says Reed of Greater Greater Washington. “This region has this huge black middle class that hasn’t always had access to the same simple things like retail opportunities or access to jobs that other communities take for granted” — all of which limits the potential for economic growth. .
A growing technology sector
Among the sectors experiencing growth today is technology. Blink Charging, a company that sells and operates electric vehicle chargers, is a company that has recently grown in Prince George’s County.
After considering several different states, “Maryland and Prince George’s County was one of the few that was very, very welcoming to us in terms of providing some incentives and grants, but also in terms of where they would quickly have some of our manufacturing capabilities,” says Harjinder Bhade, chief technology officer at Blink.
The company decided to build its headquarters in Prince George’s, and add a 30,000-square-foot manufacturing plant. In addition to having room to grow in the future, says Mr. Bhade, the county offers proximity to government agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency.