2021 Social Infrastructure Project Of The Year Award Bestowed Upon PGCPS

PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY, MD — Prince George’s County Public Schools and its partners have won the 2021 Social Infrastructure Project of the Year Award. PGCPS was one of 10 finalists for its Alternative Construction Finance Program, a public-private partnership that is being used to build new public schools quickly and at a cost savings for the county.

Prince George’s County has the second-oldest buildings in the state with more than half of its 208 schools reaching at least 50 years of age. Starting in 2019, Prince George's County Executive Angela Alsobrooks, PGCPS CEO Dr. Monica Goldson and county leaders worked to create and fund a public-private partnership for school construction to address the backlog in school construction.

PGCPS then put out a competitive bid process and ultimately partnered with Prince George’s County Education & Community Partners, a consortium of developers, to update, modernize and expand the county’s aging school infrastructure.

“We are so Prince George’s Proud that our county and our school system are being recognized for the Alternative Construction Finance program for school construction,” Alsobrooks said. “This is a tremendous honor for our county and we want to thank and congratulate everyone who played a role in pushing this innovative model for school construction forward. Through our collective efforts, we are not only providing quality learning environments for our children, but we are also making Prince George’s County a national leader in school construction while creating generational wealth for local and minority-owned businesses.”

The pioneering “Blueprint Schools” program was specifically designed to address aging and overcrowded facilities and will deliver six new schools, serving 8,000 students, by July 2023. This innovative bundled delivery model, the first of its kind in the U.S., will direct nearly 30 percent of total eligible costs to minority-owned businesses and community-based small businesses, while approximately $174 million in savings is expected to be realized by PGCPS in deferred maintenance and construction costs savings.