Employ Prince George’s outlines youth-employment strategy; highlights CDL recruitment challenges and mobile career lab

Employ Prince George’s (EPG) presented its youth-employment and workforce strategies to the Education & Workforce Development Committee on Sept. 8, outlining recruitment challenges for bus drivers and a suite of in‑school and out‑of‑school programs aimed at lowering youth unemployment.

Walter (EPG) reported that PGCPS faces competition from private-sector employers when recruiting commercial driver’s license (CDL) holders. EPG shared market data to show starting wages for CDL drivers in the county were approximately $18.78 per hour (about $39,000 annually), which EPG said is roughly $6,000 below some median pay levels and puts PGCPS at a disadvantage against private contractors and higher-paying employers despite the district’s benefits package.

EPG described multiple initiatives to increase pipeline recruitment. The brief outlined partnerships that subsidize training, including a Spanish‑language integrated CDL cohort that graduated its first Spanish-speaking CDL participant last year. EPG said the county Department of Public Works & Transportation (DPW&T) has been a key partner in driving cohorts and hiring returning citizens, and the organization discussed apprenticeship and incumbent‑worker training approaches to build a “homegrown” driver pool.

On youth programming, EPG summarized in‑school and out‑of‑school strategies: 50-plus career counselors operating across 73 PGCPS middle and high schools, group and one‑on‑one career counseling, career-exposure programming, job fairs, spring and summer camps (partnering with local nonprofit providers), and a new Prince George’s County Mobile Career Exploration Lab (a mobile unit with virtual‑reality and hands‑on exhibits intended to visit multiple schools per week). EPG said it had on‑boarded career navigator services into nearly all schools last year (missing only one school) and expects to be fully embedded from the first day this year.

EPG described out‑of‑school youth services run by contracted providers (e.g., Eckerd Connects, Achieve Workforce Academy, and others) that serve 18‑ to 24‑year‑olds with intensive services limited by federal grant rules; EPG reported typical contracting minimums of roughly 60–68 youth enrolled in intensive services per provider and said performance measures require around 70% job placement at 4–6 months post-exit and a federally required 20% of funds for work‑based learning. EPG said short-term summer placements and a smaller EPG summer program exist to avoid leaving applicants without options.

Committee members raised questions about geographic disparity in youth unemployment (EPG said districts 4–7 and 9 have youth-unemployment rates above 12% and identified District 6 as a high‑need area) and educational barriers such as literacy and basic‑skills levels that can impede certification and placement. EPG cited chronic absenteeism and lower postsecondary enrollment among certain groups — notably Hispanic students and some Black students — as obstacles and suggested expanded childcare, remediation and targeted outreach as part of a broader strategy.

Committee members asked about capacity for transportation to externships/training sites and whether more coordinated districtwide scheduling could improve results; EPG said it currently pays for some field‑trip transportation (about $100,000–$150,000 a year) to support industry placements and partners with PGCPS on school-specific arrangements.

The committee did not take action on this briefing; members expressed support for continued coordination across PGCPS, the county executive’s office and workforce partners to scale apprenticeships, CDL training and mobile-lab outreach.