How an overlooked county landed the new FBI headquarters and tech jobs

When Vennard Wright promotes the two companies he founded in the past four years, he also touts how he’s developing tech talent in his home county – a place that’s overcome obstacles to establish itself as one of Maryland’s strongest growth engines.  

The change in Prince George’s County, Maryland, is obvious to people who’ve long lived and worked in this community bordering Washington, D.C., and the Potomac River. The county has nearly completely recovered from the considerable job losses caused by the pandemic and rebounded from the Great Recession, when it had the highest foreclosure rate in the state. 

Prince George’s, with a population of almost 1 million people, is also America’s second-wealthiest majority-Black county – just recently surpassed by neighboring Charles County – but businesses and people here struggled during the pandemic, like the rest of the country. 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 the Prince George’s County Economic Development Corp., pointing to efforts by the county and state to stimulate jobs, training opportunities, and federal funding.

Signals of the county’s revitalization range from splashy announcements, like the FBI last year picking Prince George’s as the site of its headquarters, to ambitious infrastructure projects, like plans for 10 additional Metro subway stations. Between 2011 and 2021, the county led the state in job growth.   

A combination of federal dollars and the prevalence of solopreneurs – people who individually own and operate a business – created a renaissance in the county over the last several years, says Mr. Wright, a lifelong resident of Prince George’s. He has worked with a county workforce development group to help him hire interns and young people interested in working in information technology. 

Emerging from setbacks 

Coming out of the 2007-2009 recession, Prince George’s County faced the highest rate of foreclosures in the state and was recovering more slowly than its neighbors, says Mr. Iannucci. In the years that followed, county officials and community leaders, including the County Council, focused on a strategic plan that incentivized business growth, adding 50,000 new jobs throughout the 2010s. These efforts were propelled by a number of training programs – mostly paid for by federal funding – offered to county residents focusing on how to run businesses. 

Resources have included artificial intelligence training, small grants toward marketing and technology costs, and specific trainings with focuses like navigating government contracting.

Prince George’s County has a lot of things going for it, from public transportation to an educated population to proximity to Washington, says Dan Reed, director of regional policy for Greater Greater Washington, a policy and news organization focused on the region. The broader region is expensive – the median home price in neighboring Montgomery County is $600,000 – and there’s only so much room to expand. But Prince George’s County also has development opportunities, says Reed, like a medical center that’s under construction.

Historically, many members of the community felt Prince George’s was often passed over 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’s became a majority-Black county in the early 1990s as people with jobs in Washington looked to move out of the city to the suburbs, and the community is now 60% Black with a growing Hispanic population as well. 

“Probably the majority of the county’s citizens would tell you that they don’t think that they’ve been fairly treated when it comes to quality retail, and when it comes to major employers,” says Mr. Iannucci. “There’s an investment gap in the Washington region when it comes to Prince George’s County.”

Maryland officials also raised equity arguments during and after their bid to woo the FBI headquarters across the border from Washington. 

A 2023 report from Urban Institute found that investment has not been evenly distributed across the Washington region. In particular, average investment per household in Prince George’s County is significantly lower than in other area counties.

New business applications double 

Leading up to the 1970s, the county’s economy was primarily agricultural, says Brittney Drakeford, an urban planner with the National Capital Planning Commission and county native. After reshaping as a residential community, a flood of initiatives and projects over recent decades have helped usher the county into 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 shops, and a distinctive 180-foot Ferris 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 U.S. Census data. That increase far surpassed that of neighboring Montgomery County, one of the state’s most affluent places, which saw about a 50% increase during the same period. 

Prince George’s also continues to draw investment in business and infrastructure, said Angela Alsobrooks, the county executive, touting both points at 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 nominee for the U.S. Senate.

Though there are promising signs of growth, county officials continue to face the tax revenue challenge stemming from Prince George’s historical identity as a bedroom community rather than as a part commercial, part residential community. And county leaders remain concerned that the commercial tax revenue lags behind other nearby counties.

Supporting Black-owned businesses  

Funding dedicated to boosting business owners has fluctuated recently, says Mr. Wright, a chief information officer for the county before he started Wave Welcome, a technology and digital services firm in 2020 and, in 2023, PerVista, a business that uses AI to prevent school shootings.

As a majority-Black county, Prince George’s “was very affected by George Floyd,” says Mr. Wright, referring to the 2020 protests against police brutality. “Lots of money flowed down,” says Mr. Wright – including from a $49.5 billion collective pledge from America’s 50 largest corporations.

Over time, that influx of money petered out. Across the United States, about 3% of businesses are Black-owned, and venture capital investment in Black businesses dropped about 70% in 2023, reports the data firm Crunchbase. Maryland has the third-highest share of Black-owned businesses in the country, after Washington, D.C., and Georgia, according to Pew Research Center.

Though Mr. Wright doesn’t see much new investment in startups this year, there are plenty of consulting and government contracting opportunities in the county, he says.

County organizers see economic success as working in concert with social progress. And, Ms. Drakeford adds, current growth is “part of a long trajectory” that has ebbed and flowed through different county administrations.

“This isn’t just about a county catching up. This is 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 limited the potential for economic growth. 

A growing tech sector 

Among the sectors experiencing growth today is tech. Blink Charging, a company that sells and operates electric vehicle chargers, is one company that recently expanded in Prince George’s County.

After considering many 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 fast track some of our manufacturing capabilities,” says Harjinder Bhade, chief technology officer of Blink.

The company decided to build its headquarters in Prince George’s, and added a 30,000-square-foot manufacturing plant. Along with having space to grow in the future, says Mr. Bhade, the county offers proximity to government agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency. 

Editor's note: This story, originally published on Sept. 18, has been changed to correct Brittney Drakeford's job title.