America's wealthiest black country

Kevin Chappell

In the mid 1800s, it was home to slave plantations and tobacco farms. But gone are the days of Black subservience along the banks of the Potomac River in Prince George's County, Maryland. Today, African-Americans in the suburban enclave east of Washington, D.C., are planting their own seeds of power and wealth, enjoying--in numbers never before seen in this country-luxuries like championship golf courses, Olympic-size swimming pools, horseback riding stables and ice-skating training centers.

With the distinction of being the richest majority African-American county in the country, Prince George's County is more than a place to live. For the 500,000 or so Black county residents--many of whom are in occupations that range from doctors and lawyers to hotel owners and restaurateurs--it is home to a social, economic and political movement that has turned the typical American hierarchy on its ear, and, if handled correctly, could reverberate for generations to come.

In fact, the county's unique position is so intriguing that publishing giant Doubleday recently published P.G. County, a steamy fictional novel that takes readers into a well-heeled world where millionaire Blacks are central characters.

In the real Prince George's County, the people are just as intriguing. The county ranks in the top 2 percent in the nation in income level, and in people who are employed in executive jobs. Two-thirds of its work force are in white-collar professions, many of whom have plunked down huge sums of money to live in the county where the average price for a new home is more than $700,000, with many fetching more than $1 million.

Tiffany Hanna Anderson remembers her reaction when she came to the county. "I said, 'Wow, there are all of these Black people who are doing well. This is where I need to be.'" The 35-year-old attorney, who is now a partner with Funk & Bolton law firm, bought a home in the county in 2004, and uses every opportunity to tout her find. "This is a place where I can live, work and accomplish all of my goals. And feel comfortable," says Anderson, an aspiring judge. "You walk out of your house and you see people who look like you, and have the same mind-set as you. They're professionals. There are people who are in politics, business. There is no other place like it in the world."

With an average household income of $74,000, the county has moved up from the fifth richest county in the state three years ago to the second, even surpassing Baltimore County and Anne Arundel County, a mostly White area awash with multimillion-dollar waterfront homes on Chesapeake Bay. In fact, the county has a greater percentage of households earning more than $200,000 a year than any county in Maryland.

While Prince George's County has some of the most expensive houses in the state, it is also among those with the youngest residents. The median age of its 900,000 residents is 33, with 44 percent being married couples and 35 percent of households having a child under the age of 18. Sharon Taylor, director of communications for the Prince George's

County Police Department, says: "The county embodies what we all have envisioned as the American Dream ... The county stands as a symbol of what it is we have all been taught America is supposed to be. It is actually happening here in Prince George's County. The African-American community has a piece of that dream ... We are what America was set out to be."

A key component to the county's tremendous high-end growth has been to set high standards. When County Executive Jack Johnson came into office four years ago, he dismissed the notion that majority Black communities couldn't be top-notch. He popularized the phrase "Gorgeous Prince George's," a slogan that emphasizes the county's commitment to build "livable communities" that are not only economically vibrant, but committed to environmental protection, reliable city services and beautification projects.

Virtually every entrance into the county has been turned into a welcoming garden. One roadway median near the famed D.C. beltway has more than 300 trees, 800 shrubs and 50,000 ornamental plants. In a single day in 2005, volunteers planted more than 10,000 trees across the county.

When it came to homebuilding companies, Johnson told them to "come correct" with their proposed neighborhoods, or don't come at all. "I understand that as an African-American leader, I cannot allow developers to come in and depreciate the value of our property," says Johnson, who is an attorney by trade and a native of Charleston, S.C. "I require them to build a certain size, put houses on a certain size lot, and insist on certain amenities. Then, everything else takes care of itself."

Through smart financial investments and an increasing tax base, the county has a $50 million surplus that it is using to build new schools, raise teachers' salaries and increase county services. At a time when school systems across the country fight for limited funding, Johnson led the county in fully funding its board of education's budget this year.

Even with that kind of financial stability, Johnson says that he knows many Blacks in the county continue to struggle to make ends meet. "We're not perfect, and all of us are not well-to-do by any stretch of the imagination," he says. "But we are working to make Prince George's County a great place for all of our residents."

And while being adjacent to a metropolitan city like Washington, D.C., has its advantages, it also brings challenges. Gentrification issues in the nation's capital have forced some lower-income residents into the county. Crime, particularly in the areas bordering the District, is one of the county's biggest challenges. But with the hiring of more than 200 new police officers, and a 45 percent increase in the police department's budget, crime trends this year have shown improvement.

On the business side, the county has been just as aggressive. Prince George's County leads the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area in commercial development. Realizing the purchasing potential of the county's residents, the International Council of Shopping Centers held its first-ever meeting in the county, touting the county as the premier destination in the Mid-Atlantic region. The county is also expanding its economic reach internationally, as countries such as China and Gambia court the county.

With so much going on in Prince George's County, there's almost nonstop focus on the area. For example, the county made national headlines when Johnson secured the partnerships and finances needed to launch the $2 billion National Harbor Project on more than a mile of shoreline along the Potomac River. Scheduled to be finished in 2008, the 350-acre, mixed-use project--jointly developed by The Peterson Companies and Gaylord Entertainment--is the largest hospitality industry project to break ground outside of Las Vegas, and is a potential economic engine for the entire Washington, D.C., metropolitan region.

With 7.3 million square feet of office, residential, retail and entertainment space, Harbor Project is expected to generate thousands of jobs and boost county revenues by $1.4 billion over the next 30 years. An aggressive minority business participation program has a goal of awarding 30 percent of all contracts and services to the minority business community.

For land developer Bill Youngblood, whose company, Stepping Stones Development, won a multimillion-dollar contract to develop the county's newest subway station site, taking advantage of opportunities has afforded him a lifestyle straight out of the pages of a luxury home magazine. He and his wife, Colette Youngblood, who is president of her information technology consulting firm, Versatile Business Solutions, recently built a custom home, complete with a home theater, wine cellar and elevator, on what was once an apple orchard in the northern part of the county.

"You can have an idea and you're given an opportunity in the county," says Bill Youngblood, who is involved in 10 development projects in the county. "We've been able to capitalize on some of those opportunities, and step out of the role of just being consumers and into the roles of business owners."

Youngblood says that being successful financially has made it all the more important to help others who have yet to realize their full potential. That's why he regularly gives his time and financial resources to worthwhile causes, especially school endeavors in the county. "There was a time when we had to go to the big White corporations and ask for money for our schools," he says. "Now that wealth has been created in the county, it is good to be in a position where we can write a check and help that school."

Businessman Gary S. Murray agrees. "Here we are, 40 years after the Civil Rights Movement ... and we are the first generation to assume this kind of power ... It's our time," says Murray, former chairman of the county's Economic Development Corporation and CEO of HumanVision, a venture capital and land development company. "It's like a country coming out of colonialism. I think the challenge for us is not to be smug about where we are, but to look at the intellectual capital that we are going to pass on to the next generation."

County residents say they realize that some people may think that such wealth flowing through the majority-Black county with parks, lakes, flowers and tree-lined streets is an aberration that is not sustainable, much less "bequeathable." But county residents say their wealth is indeed sustainable. In fact, they say they have barely scratched the surface of the kind of generational wealth Whites have enjoyed for hundreds of years. "This model has worked all over the country for generations; it just hasn't been us," County Executive Johnson says. "So we're still not satisfied. We're just getting started."

COPYRIGHT 2006 Johnson Publishing Co.
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning