Mar 9

Mar 9 Going Beyond Smoke, Mirrors And Talk

Making Equity and Inclusion A Reality In Prince George’s County

Supporting Black and Brown Businesses Must Be More Than Just Talk.

By Mel Franklin // County Council Member At-Large // Prince George’s County, MD

Three days after what would have been the 87th birthday of late former District of Columbia “Mayor for Life” Marion Barry and just under three weeks away from the first ever Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) Advocacy Day in Downtown Upper Marlboro,” it is fitting today that we reflect on the words “equity” and “inclusion” and what those words mean for Prince George’s County’s minority-owned business community. Over 40 years ago, not long after the end of the Civil Rights’ Movement, Mayor Barry (and late Atlanta Mayor Maynard Jackson) made sharing economic opportunities with the black and brown business community more than just lip service -- as we so often see today -- but a demand of doing business in the District of Columbia (and Atlanta), even when it was hard. This is the very courage and determination that leaders in Prince George’s County need today.

A Decade of Progress

The good news is that over the past 12 years, Prince George’s County has made a great deal of progress in the cause of economic empowerment of our small and minority business community. In 2011, the first full year of my tenure as a Council Member, the Office of Central Services (OCS) reported that only 5% of the County’s procurement spending was spent with small and minority businesses based in Prince George’s County. In December of 2022, about 11 years later, after the approval of numerous laws that I had the privilege to write (including the Jobs First Act and its progeny, Prince George’s Co. Supply Schedule, Mentor-Protégé Program, Special Assistance for Local Entrepreneurship, among others), OCS reported that over 38% of the County’s procurement spending was spent in the most recent fiscal year with small and minority owned businesses based in the County, a 660% increase. This progress has been intentional and positive, but it isn’t enough. Far too many local minority firms report not getting access to opportunities due to various obstacles, like access to capital and transparency in bidding. And there are far too many agencies and entities spending the tax dollars of Prince George’s County residents, but, due to state law, don’t fall under the stronger small and minority business requirements of Prince George’s County’s procurement laws. In short, the progress of the last several years isn’t being felt broadly enough across our small and minority business community.

2022: A Landmark Year

2022 was a landmark year in Prince George’s County as the previous County Council and County Executive Angela Alsobrooks approved an agenda known as the Equity and Inclusion Agenda for Our Local Business Community, the most ambitious small and minority business agenda adopted in any of the over 12 consecutive years that I have served on the County Council. These policies have literally just gone into effect, so we haven’t seen their substantial benefits yet for our County’s small and minority business community.

CB-101-2022 increased the County’s requirements so that at least 50% of any county contract’s dollars be spent with small and minority businesses based in the County. It substantially increased the County’s MBE goals, including increasing the County’s construction/public works MBE goal from 20%, which it had been for decades, to 43%, backed by a recent disparity study, and establishes, for the first time in county history, industry sector specific MBE Subgoals for underserved racial/ethnic groups, like black or latino-owned businesses.
CB-62-2022 establishes a Small Business Capital and Growth Stimulus Program for awarding grants and no-interest loans to locally owned and operated businesses and new technology firms.
CB-51-2022 establishes a landmark policy to require any private development receiving over $1 million in tax subsidies to have a Supplier Diversity and Equity Plan, incl. spending with small and minority businesses and hiring county residents.
CB-63-2022, once implemented, establishes a new program to assist local firms overcome barriers of access to bonding to qualify for contracts.
CB-70-2022 establishes a 50% business personal property tax credit for local firms during their first 5 years of operation provided they own or rent space in the County.

Unfinished Business: Where do we go from here?

While 2022 heralded in impressive legislative accomplishments, there is still so much more to do in 2023 and beyond to truly make Prince George’s County a national model for equity and inclusion for our small and minority business community. Here are a few priorities:

Increase Compliance and Enforcement of County Agencies. 2023 is a year where implementation, compliance, and enforcement should be our highest priorities. There is a bill in the Maryland General Assembly, House Bill 646 (SB 578), sponsored by Prince George’s County Delegate Nick Charles, Senator Antonio Hayes, and others, that would hold state procurement officers accountable in merit pay, promotions, and retention if their agency doesn’t meet the state’s requirements for utilizing minority owned businesses. Prince George’s County should pass a similar law holding County agencies and procurement officers accountable for meeting and exceeding the County’s small and minority business requirements and goals.
Improve data transparency. Prince George’s County has jumped light years ahead of where it was just four years ago in the digitization of procurement and reporting. There is still work to do. We should invest in the kind of technology that will allow tracking of agency spending with our small and minority business community in real time and which will include tracking the levels of agency spending with specific racial subset communities identified in the most recent Disparity Study.
Empower local entrepreneurs by providing funding in the Fiscal Year 2024 budget to implement the Prince George’s County Small Business Capital and Growth Stimulus Program (CB-62-2022) for awarding grants and no-interest loans to locally owned and operated businesses and new technology firms. Additionally, implement CB-63-2022 to provide bonding assistance to local diverse firms.
Establish a County Council Small and Minority Business (SMBE) Subcommittee or Special Committee that serves as the Council’s arm for monitoring and conducting public oversight over the implementation and enforcement of policies that empower small and minority-owned businesses in the County on an ongoing basis.
Pursue state law changes with our Prince George’s County Senators and Delegates in the 2024 session of the Maryland General Assembly to bring the procurement policies and practices of the Prince George’s County Public Schools (PGCPS), Prince George’s Community College (PGCC), and the Prince George’s County portions of the bi-county Agencies Maryland National Capital Park & Planning Commission (MNCPPC) and the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission (WSSC) under the authority of Prince George’s County law. Currently, due to state law, despite collectively spending hundreds of millions of funds paid by county taxpayers and ratepayers, none of those agencies must conform to Prince George’s County’s stronger policies for assisting small and minority-owned businesses in the County.
Require prime contractors to include small and minority owned businesses based in the County on their prime contracting teams. Let’s elevate our firms from just subcontractors to prime contractors in county procurement.
Avoid requirements that either intentionally or unintentionally exclude small and minority owned businesses in the County from economic opportunities, such as lengthy past performance requirements, high credit barriers, excessive bonding and insurance requirements, and Project Labor Agreements (PLAs).

The first ever MBE Advocacy Day in Downtown Largo is on Tuesday, March 28, 2023 at the Wayne K. Curry Administration Bldg., First Floor, 1301 McCormick Drive, Largo, MD 20774. Please register here and let’s take advocacy for the small and minority business community in Prince George’s County to the next level.