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Photo courtesy Prince George’s Soil Conservation District
Laurel High School won first-place honors in the 2024 Prince George’s County Envirothon Competition. Laurel High School will head to the State competition at Mount St. Mary’s University in Emmitsburg, June 12–13.
Laurel High School Students Win Prince George’s County 2024 Envirothon Competition!
By PRESS OFFICER
Prince George’s Soil Conservation District
BRANDYWINE, Md. (April 30, 2024)— The Prince George’s Soil Conservation District (PGSCD) is pleased to announce that Laurel High School won first-place honors in the 2024 Prince George’s County Envirothon Competition. Academy of Health Sciences at Prince George’s Community College came in second place. The Prince George’s Soil Conservation District and the William S. Schmidt Outdoor Education Center hosted the event at the Schmidt Center on April 24. Seventeen teams from eleven Prince George’s County high schools were tested in five categories: aquatics, forestry, soils, wildlife, and this year’s fifth issue, “Renewable Energy for a Sustainable Future.” Participating high schools were Academy of Health Sciences at Prince George’s Community College, Bladensburg High School, Crossland High School, Dr. Henry Wise High School, Fairmont Heights High School, Frederick Douglas High School, Laurel High School, Non-Traditional North Program, Oxon Hill High School and Potomac High School.
“We are extremely proud of the students who competed in the 2024 Prince George’s County Envirothon competition. A special congratulations to the winning team from Laurel High School and to the runners-up from the Academy of Health Sciences,” said Steven E. Darcey, PGSCD’s District Manager. “This program wouldn’t have been a success without the hard work and dedication of the local Envirothon coordinators, resource specialists, coaches, and sponsors. We give heartfelt thanks to everyone involved. Now, let’s go win the Maryland State Envirothon!”
The event was sponsored by several organizations in addition to PGSCD and Prince George’s County Public School System (PGCPS). The program requires significant funding for instruments, transportation, and lunch, to name a few. This year’s sponsors included Keep Prince George’s County Beautiful, Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative (SMECO), Southern Maryland Agricultural Development Commission, Prince George’s County Farm Bureau, Green Landing Nursery, Atwell LLC, Robin Hill Farm & Vineyard, Patuxent River 4-H Center Foundation, and the Forest Garden Club.
“We are proud that our Envirothon students are learning content and gaining skills that are essential for addressing local and global environmental issues,” said Donald Belle, Environmental Outreach Educator with the Department of Environmental Education at the William S. Schmidt Center. “We want to build on their enthusiasm by providing methods from which they can address climate change and create awareness at their schools.”
PGSCD and the Schmidt Center collaborated with partners from the Maryland-National Capital Park & Planning Commission’s Parks and Recreation division, Maryland’s USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service (USDA-NRCS), University of Maryland Extension, and Prince
George’s County’s Department of the Environment to provide training opportunities and resources to teams and their coaches.
Envirothon Coach, Nadisha Clayton, says, “I am immensely proud of our team this year as they persevered despite facing challenges on the day of the competition. They are also mostly a new team as we bid farewell to our seniors last year. With only two returning members, both in the tenth grade, the team was able to achieve success through hard work and perseverance. The students are extremely excited and happy for the $1500 grants awarded by PGSCD.”
Laurel High School will head to the State competition at Mount St. Mary’s University in Emmitsburg, June 12–13. The Maryland State Envirothon champions will advance to the National Conservation Foundation (NCF) Envirothon competition held in July at Hobart and William Smith Colleges Geneva, New York. With more counties and states participating each year, the Envirothon competition continues to expand its reach. PGSCD remains committed to its goal to educate as many students and teachers as possible on the importance of conserving our natural resources to preserve and protect the environment. As always, we are #PrinceGeorgesProud!
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Upper Marlboro Town Commissioner Charles Colbert Urges Prince George’s County Council to Release $2.5 Million in Capital Improvement Funding for Upper Marlboro
By RAY FELDMANN
Town of Upper Marlboro
UPPER MARLBORO, Md. (May 7, 2024)—Town of Upper Marlboro Commissioner Charles Colbert tonight formally asked the Prince George’s County Council to schedule the release $2.5 million in previously approved Redevelopment Authority funding for the town’s economic development efforts.
Last Monday evening, April 29, Mayor Sarah Franklin made a similar request before the County Council during a Prince George’s County FY ’25 budget hearing.
Commissioner Colbert offered the following testimony before the County Council Tuesday night:
“Since 2017, the Prince George’s County Capital Improvement Plan Budget has included a line item and project page within the Redevelopment Authority’s budget for $2.5M to be allocated for redevelopment activities in the downtown corridor of the Town of Upper Marlboro. Also since 2017, that funding profile has slipped to the right each year with the passage of the annual budget and as of the current proposed budget, stands to not be initially disbursed until 2028. We request that the Council accelerate this timeline and begin appropriating the funding in FY25.
“The Town is in need of investment and support in revitalizing the downtown corridor in order to attract businesses to the community and adequately provide services for the residents within and surrounding the Town. Currently, 64% of the Town’s landmass is untaxable, government owned property which hinders our ability to collect adequate revenue to fund revitalization efforts. We are essentially providing services for a population that swells ten-fold during business hours on 40% of the potential revenue.
“However, the Town has invested significant resources and undergone a Vision Planning process for downtown redevelopment. We have engaged residents and contracted with an economic development firm to provide expert guidance on what and how we can make positive change to impact the residents not only of the Town but the greater Upper Marlboro area. That firm solicited input from residents, both in and out of Town, business and property owners, elected officials at the state and county level and anyone else who had a vested interest in the Town and was willing to provide input.
“Last year, the Town Board of Commissioners approved the Town’s Vision Plan providing avenues for commercial revitalization, increased housing availability, and recreation. These avenues include streetscape redesign for pedestrian and vehicle safety, Main Street re-configuration, and revitalization of old and abandoned buildings for mixed use development.
“The Town shares the County’s goal of diversifying revenue streams to relieve the burden on individual taxpayers. This investment in the Town’s revitalization efforts provides a significant
return to the County in helping to meet this goal and in providing revenue from previously untaxed sources.
“Releasing this funding and partnering with County agencies will allow the Town to make significant progress toward these initiatives.”
Following an exhaustive public engagement and participation process, last year The Board of Commissioners unveiled a vision plan that outlined three specific priorities: to create a vibrant downtown, a connected community, and safe place.
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Prince George’s County Economic Development Corporation Receives a $25,000 Grant From Truist Bank to Support Small Businesses
PGCEDC continues is stellar track record of grant awarding to fund programs across various business industry sectors
By PRESS OFFICER
PGCEDC
Largo, Md. (May 9, 2024)—Prince George’s County Economic Development Corporation (PGCEDC) is pleased to announce that it has received a $25,000 grant from Truist Bank to support small businesses in Prince George’s County. The grant will be used to fund the new Catalyst 360 program, which will provide support to tenants of PGCEDC’s in-house incubator, Innovation Station Business Incubator (ISBI) beginning in July 2024.
In addition to the Catalyst 360 program, the grant will also be used to continue current programs like the Entrepreneurs and Experts in Residence program, which is currently facilitated within ISBI. The grant will also provide monetary awards to help ISBI’s incubator business tenants, with three awards of $1,000 each.
The successful acquisition of this grant was made possible by the dedicated efforts of the PGCEDC Executive Vice President, Ebony Stocks, who led the grant team. Her instrumental role in securing funding for PGCEDC from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) is a testament to her commitment to the economic development of Prince George’s County. The ARPA funding has paved the way for the Grow Prince George’s umbrella of programs, which provides support for small businesses in Prince George’s County by industry sector.
“We are incredibly grateful to Truist Bank for their generous grant, which will allow us to continue supporting small businesses in Prince George’s County,” said Ebony Stocks, Executive Vice President of PGCEDC. “The upcoming Catalyst 360 program and the Entrepreneurs and Experts in Residence program are vital resources for our incubator tenants, and this grant will help us to expand and enhance these initiatives. We are committed to fostering economic growth and development in our community, and this grant brings us one step closer to achieving that goal.”
PGCEDC is dedicated to promoting and supporting economic development in Prince George’s County, and the grant from Truist Bank will help to further that mission. PGCEDC looks forward to using the funds to provide valuable resources and support to small businesses in the community.
Prince George’s County Economic Development Corporation (PGCEDC)’s mission is to cultivate and promote a strong local economy that supports the growth and prosperity of entrepreneurs and businesses, dedicated to strengthening communities through business development and job creation. For more information about the services the Economic Development Corporation provides to local companies, visit www.pgcedc.com
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It’s Police Recruitment Season, But Filling Vacancies Is a Struggle Across Maryland
By HENRY J. BROWN
Capital News Service
Maryland has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country, which would typically be considered a bright spot for the state’s economy. But for companies and government agencies searching for workers, Maryland’s low unemployment is a problem that’s leading to labor shortages.
One of the hardest hit industries is law enforcement.
As police recruitment season kicks off—it generally runs from April to June—police departments across the state are recruiting more aggressively than ever to fill patrol cars. Many are offering larger salaries and bigger signing bonuses.
“There are many occupational categories that suffer worker and skill shortfalls,” said Anirban Basu, chief executive of Sage Policy Group, an economic consulting firm in Baltimore. “But the most visible of these categories are public safety officials or police officers in particular,” he said, adding that “there are so many other occupational categories that are actively hiring right now that naturally it is difficult for departments to recruit sufficient numbers of officers.”
The shortage of police officers is most severe in Baltimore city and county.
“We’re so short now, we can’t be all things to all people,” meaning police departments are taking officers away from paperwork and putting them on more pressing work, said Dave Rose, president of Baltimore County Fraternal Order of Police, Lodge 4.
Currently, the department has 235 vacant jobs out of a total sworn force of 1950.
“If you’ve ever watched an Orioles game, we’ve got ‘Baltimore County is hiring’ signs everywhere,” he said.
Baltimore city, Maryland’s largest municipality, is short of nearly 600 police officers compared to its capacity of 3,100.
Baltimore increased its starting salaries to $61,349 last July in an attempt to fill vacancies, but still has a long way to go in filling the officer void, according to the department.
Smaller cities like Ocean City are having trouble competing against larger departments for applicants.
The seaside vacation town announced earlier this year that it is ending its summer hiring program, due to the sharp decline in applicants, and will instead seek to hire more full-time officers.
In a press release on its website, the department explained that “the law enforcement career field used to be very competitive, with few vacancies. As interest in law enforcement has downshifted, most agencies are now competing against one another to fill their spots from a smaller applicant pool.”
Many states, not just Maryland, are having trouble recruiting police officers.
The job is dangerous and the image of law enforcement has been tarnished in recent years by numerous examples across the country of police using excessive force, which in some cases have led to police being prosecuted.
“It is a difficult moment in history to be a police officer,” added Basu.
But Maryland has some unique issues. The biggest issue is salaries, which haven’t kept pace with the state’s high cost of living. For example, home prices in Maryland have risen more than 50% over the past 10 years and averaged $473,442 in March, according to the Maryland Association of Realtors.
Police officer salaries have also risen.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median pay for police officers in Maryland was about $76,000 in 2023, slightly ahead of the national median average of $74,910.
But police union leaders and some politicians argue that salaries in Maryland still aren’t high enough when compared to other civil servants. Education administrators, for example, had median wages of $125,720 in 2023.
The high cost of housing has prompted a growing number of workers to leave the state and move to less expensive areas. That out-migration includes many people who might have been attracted to police work.
“If you could find a superior employment market in the south or a less expensive cost of living, why wouldn’t one pursue that?” asks Basu.
Recruitment has also been hurt by growing anti-police sentiment in the aftermath of several high-profile police encounters across the nation that led to protests and charges of excessive force. That includes the 2015 death of Freddie Gray Jr., a 25-year-old African American who suffered fatal injuries while under custody of Baltimore police officers, after he was apprehended for possessing a knife.
Some police officers believe that the attack on the United States Capitol in Washington, on Jan. 6, 2021, by supporters of then-President Donald Trump also turned some potential recruits away from policing.
“On (a day like) Jan. 6, officers were put in a position where their lives were at risk. I think that was an eye-opener for a lot of our candidates who were interested and backed out,” said Lt. Sean Schwartz, a hiring strategist for the police department in Bowie, the largest city in Prince George’s County.
Bowie is currently short eight cops out of a 67-officer minimum.
“We’re all hands on in putting in our effort in speaking to people…and sharing the good things about the police department,” Schwartz said.
Bowie City Councilman Michael Estéve has spent the past several years trying to lift police pay
and benefits. While initial salaries aren’t as high as he would like, he notes that officers who remain on the job will do well financially in the long-term.
“The benefits accrue, so if you stay in the profession for 25, 35 years, you can retire very comfortably,” he said.
Bowie currently offers a starting salary of $59,020, and the department tenders signing bonuses between $15,000 and $20,000 depending on an officer’s prior experience level.
Meanwhile, Bowie Police Chief Dwayne Preston is scrambling to find new recruits.
“I’ve done a lot of talk shows, I’ve done a lot of advertising with social media, we’ve changed incentives and raised signing bonuses with the support of the city council and city manager to make us competitive,” he said.
The department also attends career fairs and looks for new ways to engage with younger members of the community, which it hopes will help with recruitment in the future.
One recent Saturday afternoon, a dozen Bowie police officers squared off against Benjamin Tasker Middle School’s basketball team in a friendly exhibition game. Though the edge went to the students, the mission succeeded in helping officers interact with students in a positive atmosphere.
“We start to get busy with a lot of the community events that we do throughout the spring, throughout the summer, but these are the things that are most fulfilling to us,” Preston said. “That’s one of the things that allows us…to serve this community in such a way that they feel like they appreciate it.”
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