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Prince George's County business leaders say they hope they can work through a new community nonprofit to concentrate on commercializing the county's resources, particularly in hospitality and tourism.

About 300 people attended the Envision Prince George's Economic Forum on Friday at the Samuel Riggs IV Alumni Center at the University of Maryland, College Park, where it was announced that the program would become a community-managed nonprofit. Envision focuses on developing and implementing a county vision for a vibrant economy and high quality of life by combining the ideas and resources of residents, community and business leaders and public officials.

Previously, the initiative was a partnership among the county planning department of the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, county economic development corporations and county government.

The idea behind the initiative was always to give it back to the community so it would be the community's effort, said Desiree Griffin Moore, executive director of the Prince George's Community Foundation. Along with the creators of the nonprofit, the foundation will guide the organization in its infancy.

"It's fascinating to see so many people targeting the same goals," Moore said.

Among these goals are economic development efforts such as building the defense and homeland security corridor along the southern Green Line of the Metro; leveraging the research capacity of the University of Maryland and northern county assets; establishing a strategic technology council; developing a downtown New Carrollton; encouraging work-force housing at transit centers; creating a countywide work-force development system; and branding the county as small-business friendly.

"We need to concentrate on really building up the business corporations, since there are lots of opportunities in the county, and we miss out on them," said Craig M. Muckle, spokesman for Safeway, whose eastern headquarters are in Lanham. Muckle is among the business representatives with the initiative.

"We're left being a bridesmaid" and never a bride all the time, he said, referring to how the county is often overlooked for economic development projects. "There are a lot of reasons we don't get it; some are our own vices and some not."

His strategy, shared by many others, is for Prince George's to find some trait to focus on, similar to how Montgomery County capitalizes on its biotech advantage.

Aside from the aspects mentioned in the Envision plan, Muckle also wants the county to build on its hospitality and tourism sectors and create more attractions for people to come to Prince George's.

"That in itself will bring business," he said, emphasizing that the county should brand itself as a destination area. "A businessman looks at what he has as his resources instead of what he doesn't."

He referred to the Six Flags America amusement park in Largo, National Harbor in Oxon Hill and three sports stadiums throughout the county. The latter have also been a key ingredient in the state's efforts to promote sports tourism. Muckle emphasized that these businesses are already in the county and will not need to be developed from scratch, unlike some of the other ideas the county has for finding its niche.

Ricardo Gianella, whose eponymous Hyattsville business provides culinary catering, educational support and enterprise management, also wants the county to look into strengthening language education, especially in his community. This idea came up in the previous Envision meeting in March, when residents called for more language courses to give residents a competitive edge in international commerce.

Sharon R. Taylor of srt Enterprises in Bowie also thinks the county should bring back more vocational education in public schools so that people stop viewing tradesman jobs as less honorable than others.

"We need to reverse that narrative," she said. "Also, these kids that come out of high school with hirable skills can finance their own higher education."

Such skills are also easier to meld into small businesses, said former Prince George's County Police Chief Melvin High.

The county also needs to do a better job of advertising its more environmentally friendly businesses, said Ruthie Mundell of Community Forklift, an Edmonston warehouse for used building materials. She suggested the county website list businesses where people could drop off such materials.

"It's amazing how far we've come and more amazing how far we have to go," said Kwasi G. Holman, president and CEO of the county economic development corporation.