Weekly Message From the County Executive: Montgomery Update: Earth Day is Every Day in Montgomery County

Dear Friends,

“This is a time where we see that Montgomery County is going to lead. There are certain places that . . . are right now debating about what progress looks like. They are in the process of figuring out, ‘Well, how do we get there?’ And then there is Montgomery County saying, ‘We will see you at the finish line.” – Maryland Governor Wes Moore, speaking at dedication of the Seneca Valley Apartments Largest Rooftop Solar Project. Gaithersburg. April 19, 2023.

Every week, important and great things happen in Montgomery County. Some get a lot of attention, like when we open the largest solar project for multi-family housing in the County and the Governor stops by to acknowledge that we are setting the pace for the rest of the State. Then there are other events that took place this week that may seem small on the surface, but could make a huge difference in the lives of our residents.
In everything we do, progress is not just a goal, it is an expectation.

I attended a graduation earlier this week for the County’s Small Business Accelerator program. This is the third time business leaders in our County have worked with M&T Bank to assist approximately 100 minority business owners with developing business plans, better understanding financial documents and reports and explaining legal needs. The program is designed to help entrepreneurs avoid common mistakes that lead to failure. Participants praised the course saying it helped them learn ways to manage their business, introduced them to other small business owners and helped them improve how they pitch their business. I am glad that the participants found the program to be valuable and worth their investment of several hours per week over 10 weeks.

One of the program organizers shared with me feedback from this graduating class praising the program for connecting her to bankers, mentors and facilitators. This businesswoman encapsulated the importance of the program well by noting our commitment to expanding the footprint of minority-owned and operated businesses. Our County is now 56 percent minority, but the percentage of minority-owned businesses is far lower. I hope efforts like this class help change that.

WalletHub this week published the 2023 list of Most Diverse Cities in the U.S. Gaithersburg, Germantown and Silver Spring ranked first, second and third nationally and Rockville was 13th.

I was able to witness firsthand how important being the most diverse jurisdiction in the most diverse state in the nation when I was recently in Taiwan. By having communities in Montgomery County from nearly every part of the world, we are instantly connected to the global marketplace.

I was amazed by how many people we met in Taipei who had attended school in Maryland or, at one point, had worked in Montgomery County. This is a competitive advantage few other counties have throughout our nation. We need to continue to own this, communicate it, and sell it for our economic benefit and positive growth.

There are many people who deserve praise for running the Small Business Accelerator class, including M&T Bank. They could have stopped after just one, but have continued to devote the time and coordination it takes with other business leaders in our area to help our students. I also want to thank Judy Costello, Daniel Koroma[SD1] and Jim Stowe for their roles in making this a beneficial program for everyone involved.

For more on the variety of programs and certifications to provide support to small, minority, women and veteran-owned businesses, please follow this link. And check out our newly redesigned Business Center website for all your business needs.

Large Solar Project Dedicated in Gaithersburg
As I referenced above, we welcomed Governor Wes Moore to Gaithersburg this week for the ribbon cutting of the largest rooftop solar project tied to an affordable, multi-family housing project in the County. Seneca Village Apartments has 684 units. The project will bring renewable energy options to hundreds of families that may have wanted to do this sooner, but were unable to.

Montgomery County’s Green Bank played a crucial role in helping the property obtain the financing needed to make the conversion to solar energy. Property owners received a $5 million Green Bank investment and then spent another $6.4 million dollars to install rooftop solar panels. The energy savings is estimated to be 2.5 million kilowatts annually.

The Green Bank is an essential tool in helping all kinds of businesses go green. My recommended FY24 budget includes $20 million dollars to accelerate energy efficiency, renewable energy and clean energy investment throughout the County.

In 2022, the Green Bank helped collaborate on nearly 50 unique transactions, helping 27 homeowners and 19 commercial properties begin their conversion to green energy. Those changes will help an estimated 1,540 households and eliminate 5,299 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions yearly.

Projects like the one save energy, create healthy living and working environments, foster a more resilient economy and environment and help the County achieve its environmental goals.

Join Us at Greenfest this Weekend

The County will celebrate Earth Day this weekend with a pair of GreenFest celebrations in Wheaton. GreenFest is the largest annual environmental festival in the County. It is organized each year by a coalition of public, nonprofit and university partners.

On Saturday, April 22, GreenFest in the Gardens will be held at Brookside Gardens in Wheaton from 11 a.m.-4 p.m. On Sunday, April 23, the celebration continues in Downtown Wheaton with GreenFest in the City at Marian Fryer Plaza on Reedie Drive from noon-5 p.m.

Please come out to enjoy the free festivities on Saturday including lessons on land use, food consumption, composting and much more. On Sunday, appliance efficiency, recycling, transportation and green business initiatives will be in the spotlight.

Tackling Fentanyl Issues

For the last few months, the County has been on heightened awareness when it comes to drug use among school age children and young adults. Several forums on the dangers of fentanyl have been hosted for families in the community by MCPS and Montgomery Goes Purple in response to increased drug use and overdoses. We have seen hundreds of families and students attend these events. They are clearly concerned.

A monthly look at drug-related issues by Montgomery County’s Opioid Intervention Team found a 90 percent increase from FY 2022 to FY 2023 in opioid-related emergency department visits by minors. That jump went from 36 cases between the summers of 2021 and 2022 to 69 so far this fiscal year—with two more months left. This increase comes as community health professionals are reporting new patterns of drug use as teens order what they want through social media with little detection—until there is a problem.

In Montgomery County, police show up to every overdose, whether it is fatal or not. We are one of the only jurisdictions in the State that does this. We also have extensive information about substance use and how to help break addiction through our btheone.org website.

Police say they have learned through their investigations that young drug users are now commonly asking for pills laced with fentanyl, a dangerous element that not long ago was only accidently being found in pills leading to a spike in adult overdoses. Now they are being produced to appear similar to popular pills like Adderall, OxyContin and Xanax.

A combination of education and drug prevention programs, led by our Opioids Intervention Team, helped bring down the number of fatal overdoses, mostly among adults, from 2021 to 2022 by close to 29 percent. However, overdose numbers have since rebounded. Some of that can be attributed to the saturation of Narcan as a quick response in more overdose cases.

As we continue to receive money from opioid settlements, more money will be devoted to helping adults and minors fight addiction. Programs such as family education, peer to peer intervention for active drug users, youth ambassadors’ programs and mental health, help treat the root cause of substance use.

The settlement money is great, but it is infuriating that the owners—managers of these drug companies—knew exactly what they were doing in pumping these drugs into the community, along with the doctors, pharmacies and pharmacists who facilitated the distribution. Not a single one of these people, whose actions led to the deaths of thousands of people, are spending a day in jail, so they get to profit personally from all the misery they unleashed, and then go about enjoying their lives as if nothing happened. There is something fundamentally wrong with this equation. It is unjust that they are able to escape accountability.

This Saturday will be National Drug Takeback Day, which is an opportunity for families to safely discard unused and unwanted prescription medications. All six Montgomery County Police substation locations will have prescription drug disposal boxes set up in their lobbies. You can also find safe takeback locations through the Gaithersburg Police Department, Rockville Police Department and Takoma Park Police.

I encourage you to learn more about our programs, the dangers of fentanyl and how to become a guardian for your friends and community. Visit btheone.org for information about the Montgomery County hotline run by EveryMind that anyone going through a crisis can call. The 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline is another resource that allows users to chat or text for help.

MCPS Investment

As the County Council is deliberating my recommended Fiscal Year 2024 operating budget, I want to thank our community advocates, teachers, parents, labor unions and residents who understand the value of a good school system for testifying on behalf of MCPS. We are honoring the request of the school system because of the needs we have in our school system.

As I wrote above about our youth dealing with substance misuse disorders, we have a lot of mental health issues, anxieties and learning loss from the pandemic. As a former teacher, I understand that you cannot “kick the can” down the road when it comes to the education of children and every day in the classroom is crucial.

I would like to remind everyone analyzing the budget or weighing in on it that we are only spending 80 percent of what we used to spend per pupil in 2010 on today’s students. This is happening as other jurisdictions increase their spending on schools. Montgomery County never restored the recession-era cuts to the school system following 2010, and now we find ourselves in a position where we need to dramatically increase the MCPS budget to help elevate teacher and school staff pay. This is important so we can recruit and retain the best employees to help give our students the best chance at success.

I was asked by someone at a forum on the capital improvements program, “How does this school issue impact adults who don’t have children in schools?” This impacts people who don’t have children in school because the more our school system struggles and the more those struggles are reflected in people’s perceptions of MCPS. During the unification process in Takoma Park, I saw firsthand how much people’s perceptions of schools had an effect on the value of homes. Everything in the city was the same for all residents—except for where children went to school. Where the children went to school had a real impact on property values. We draw a lot of residents here who come for our schools, and if we undermine confidence in those schools, it will be reflected in our home values. This budget invests in actions that will help our schools, and that should matter to everyone.

When we properly invest in our school system, the schools improve. When the schools improve, businesses move here, residents move here, property values increase, jobs are created and, in return, this brings in more money to the County.

Everyone in this County has a stake in having a good school system, but no one more than our children. If they fail, we fail.

Homeless Aid to Get $5 Million Boost from Federal Grant

Montgomery County has won a very competitive grant that will enable the County to boost its work helping to end homelessness.

This week, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUB) announced the latest set of communities to benefit from federal assistance and housing vouchers to address homelessness. Montgomery County was the only municipality in Maryland to receive an award. It will receive close to $5 million dollars and 30 vouchers intended to help individuals in emergency situations find immediate housing. This is very significant.

The grant money and vouchers will go a long way toward helping us attain our goal of ending homelessness in our County. Earlier this month, the County recommitted to this goal by launching a “Zero for All” campaign, with Bethesda Cares as the co-chair of the campaign. The program aims to end homelessness by 2025.

This grant is building off our increased efforts to serve our homeless individuals. When I took office, Montgomery County did not have a shelter open year-round. Only during the winter months did we house our homeless. Now, there is a permanent shelter we opened last year that houses close to 200 individuals every day of the year.

Additionally, we support several programs under the umbrella of our Services to End and Prevent Homelessness in our Health and Human Services Department. These dedicated employees and contractors work toward the common goal of allowing everyone access to affordable housing and opportunities to improve their quality of life.

Recently, the County began partnering with Built for Zero, an international movement of more than 100 communities working to end homelessness in a measurable and equitable way.

And I am pleased to announce that Christine Hong was confirmed by the County Council last week to become Chief of the Services to End and Prevent Homelessness. For more than 17 years, she has worked with Interfaith Works, a nonprofit organization that provides emergency shelter, supportive housing, essential needs and employment programs to more than 35,000 Montgomery County residents each year. I’m happy to welcome her to the Montgomery County Government and her expertise on this important issue.

Those that are homeless are not nameless, not without families, not without hope. They are human beings who need help. I ask you to help by donating your time, money, clothes or goods to these neighbors in need.

Honoring Yom HaShoah

This past Tuesday, the world remembered the 6 million Jewish people killed in the Holocaust. Yom HaShoah also honors those who survived one of the most horrific times of hate our world has ever seen.

I was asked by the Jewish Community Relations Council to read some of the names of the victims for Holocaust Remembrance Day. It is something they ask children in our area and leaders from across the DMV to participate in.

Learning about the Holocaust is essential for our children to learn and understand. For many young people, it is the first time they are faced with the darkness we can find in this world, and how quickly hate can spread like wildfire.

At every vigil and meeting I attend in response to hate, I am proud to see members of the faith community there. It reminds me that there are more people opposed to hate than those perpetuating it.

I believe our community will continue to decry hateful messages whether they are found in school, spray painted along trails and bus stops or left on driveways in the early hours of a weekend morning. We must say loudly that hate has no home here.

Ramadan Ends

I also want to acknowledge that this week is the end of Ramadan with the celebration of Eid.

I have been fortunate to help celebrate Ramadan with several groups over the last 30 days. I enjoyed attending all these celebrations and shared my appreciation for all the Muslim community does throughout our County.

Eid Mubarak to those who are celebrating. Here is wishing you and your family peace, harmony, happiness, good health and prosperity on the occasion of Eid.

COVID-19 Update

This week, the Food and Drug Administration authorized a second bivalent booster for adults 65 and up and people who are immunocompromised. For older adults, a second booster is recommended at least four months after a previous one. Those with weakened immune systems may need a new booster shot every two months.

For healthy, younger people, new boosters are not yet needed said the agency. The FDA promised an updated recommendation for most adults and children early this summer.

If you have been holding out and have not received an initial two-dose vaccine regiment, that is no longer necessary. The FDA has authorized the use of the updated boosters as a starting point for those seeking a vaccine. The changes await approval from the CDC.

Last week, the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) published the findings of researchers who found that the bivalent boosters were 67 percent effective in preventing hospitalization and death in those who had been previously vaccinated or boosted. And although Pfizer and Moderna bivalent vaccines were initially designed to target the BA.4 and BA.5 strains of omicron, they also reduced the risk of infection, hospitalization and death against the currently circulating BQ.1/BQ.1.1 and XBB/XBB.1.5 strains.

As you can see from this chart, a majority of County residents have still not received their bivalent booster. Bivalent booster rates for young adults, Blacks and Latino are greatly lagging, especially when compared to those who received their initial doses. We must remember that these vaccines have waning efficacy and stay up to date on our shots or we leave ourselves and our loved ones exposed to catching COVID-19.

The good news is that currently our case counts and hospital numbers continue to fall. Our community level status remains “low.” On Tuesday, no ICU beds in any of our seven regional hospitals were being used by COVID-19 patients. Let’s hope we continue to see fewer people visit the hospital with COVID, but we must remember to stay vigilant in protecting ourselves and our families from the virus. Every time we think this virus is going away for good, it always comes back.

Please stay up to date on the latest Covid news and find booster appointments through our County website on Covid.

As always, my appreciation for all of you,