Our Community
Some Characteristics
Our neighborhoods are heavily impacted by rapidly changing demographics, transient populations, lack of vested mediating institutions, the fluctuations in the real estate market/economy, disparities in the delivery of quality education and other vital services.
Recent migration from Washington, DC and elsewhere into the inner Beltway communities of Prince George’s County has provided us with both opportunities and challenges. Most exciting is the prospect of vibrant, diverse and inclusive neighborhoods connected to cultures from all continents of the world.
In less than a decade, the number of Latinos alone in this area has increased 204% to become more than one-half of the area population (57.6%). The number of new immigrants from Africa, Asia and the Caribbean has also increased substantially. The roughly 60,000 people of our community represent more than 121 different national/ethnic groups and speak more than 47 different languages. There are few places for this newcomer population to mingle and coalesce. Strengthening the public school’s ability to serve as a center of community life is therefore extremely important, since it is one of the few places that diverse populations come together
.
Until very recently the area lacked significant commercial development and had few tax dollars slated for local investment. Religious institutions, federal, state & local institutions and parks, schools, the University and other non-tax paying entities dominate the terrain. Today our area is actively being developed, but not necessarily in a people-friendly, needs-serving way.
Our community is densely populated with a high proportion of rental and multifamily properties. In the greater College Park area, within an approximate 5-mile radius from the campus, an average of 75% of school families qualify for Free and Reduced Price Meals (FARM). With a high number of transients and many "invisible" people without legal papers, the area has experienced a rise in robberies, gang activities, civil rights violations, domestic violence and workplace rights abuse.
While many of the neighborhoods in the inner Beltway older communities in the County are facing economic and social challenges, outside the Beltway Prince George’s County is known for its thriving middle class and affluent suburban gated enclaves.
In sum, Prince George's County is in a stage of development that mirrors - and very likely foretells - that of countless communities throughout the United States. Some of these shared features include:
- a close-in suburb that shares the socioeconomic character of its urban neighbor;
- the gravitation of immigrants to areas that were not traditionally immigrant magnets;
- the movement of African Americans from cities to suburbs; and
- the development of "edge cities" into centers of employment and services as well as residence.
Divisions based on race define the region and are reflected in area investment patterns. 70 percent of the metro area's Black population lives in the eastern quadrants of Washington, D.C., and Prince George's County, while Whites of all classes tend to live in the western part of the region.