Screenshot of Suitland High School. Heart of America renovated the schools library during the summer of 2025.
Forty-six libraries across Prince George’s County Public Schools (PGCPS) will be receiving renovations as a part of a partnership between PGCPS and a D.C.-based non-profit organization.
According to Verleta Taylor, library associate with Prince George's County office of library media services, this project came about when an unknown donor, an alum of the Prince George's school system, reached out with a multi-million dollar donation via The Pull Up Fund, a Prince George's County philanthropic organization. Eleven of the 46 schools have already received renovated libraries.
Taylor said the school systems’ libraries were “antiquated,” and needed to be renovated. She said it’s important that children have libraries that feel welcoming.
Heart of America – a nonprofit that transforms learning spaces and helps bridge resource gaps – is the group working to do the installations. Jill Hardy Heath, the group's president and CEO, said they work directly with the schools to curate the kind renovations that might be needed. Schools were selected via a survey that was sent out through the county's schools for a wishlist for things their schools needed. If one of their wishes was library related, they were selected. Depending on how certain schools are designed, the build team will sometimes need to extend or build new areas to accommodate new additions.
“By getting this renovation, it helps to bridge the digital gap...,”said Taylor. “It also provides more information for students to do research learning in different areas and different styles of learning.”
The renovations will include smart TVs, 3D printers, robotics kits, green screens and video production tools. There will also be aesthetic renovations such as new carpet in some spaces, paint graphics that represent the school community, school colors, school mascot, school slogans. In addition 72,000 books are also being provided to fill libraries.
“By getting this renovation, it helps to bridge the digital gap…,” said Taylor. “It also provides more information for students to do research learning in different areas and different styles of learning.”
Heath said the project discussions first began at the end of 2024 and have carried on through 2025. If they wanted the children to have a modernized facility, the anonymous donor and Heart of America believed that they had to move with urgency.
“We cannot wait for enough money to come through traditional education funding mechanisms, which are often tied to state, county, local, even down to city taxes and bonds,” Heath said. “There's simply not enough money for modernization, and so if we wait, we're skipping generations of kids, and that is not okay. That's inequitable. So we knew we needed to get to work right away.”
The project is being done in three phases. Phase one, started at the beginning of 2025. During that phase, 11 libraries were renovated in mid-July. It consisted of Calverton Elementary, Suitland Elementary, Highland Park Elementary, James McHenry, Rosa L. Parks Elementary, Chillum Elementary, Panorama Elementary, Andro Jackson Elementary, Indian Queen Elementary, International Highschool at Langley Park and J.Frank Dent Elementary. Heath says they are currently in phase two and designing for phase three.
Desiree Liburd, community school coordinator for Suitland Elementary, had worked with the schools Principal Pamela Preston and Heart of America to help design their school's new library. She called the project a “blessing”.
“It created a welcoming environment for our…scholars to come in, read, be comfortable with flexible seating, and just be engaged and excited to be in the library with vibrant colors. Our Suitland pledge, incorporated into the design with our logo, truly creates a space for our kids to learn together in a beautiful, warm environment,” said Liburd. She said the students were excited to have their new library.
“We want our children to love reading,” said Dr. Shawn Joseph, interim superintendent of Prince George’s County Public Schools. “We want them to be in spaces that encourage them to read for pleasure, and we really want to push students to build their capacity with creativity, build their creativity, get them excited about Engaging in learning and to have spaces that we feel young people you know deserve in terms of the quality of space to enjoy reading.”
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Williams – an independent genealogical researcher, reparations advocate, and member of the Prince George’s County Memorial Lynching Project – is there because he has the mournful responsibility of recalling the history of John Henry Scott, a Black man who was lynched in 1875. Researchers have confirmed that the catastrophic event occurred Oxon Hill, Maryland.
The Prince George’s County Memorial Project is hosting this event. It’s a memorial service for Scott. “ In our culture, we really value honoring the dead and how we bury them,” said Williams. “When you think about a holiday like Memorial Day that was created by African Americans to memorialize a lot of the soldiers who did not get a proper burial.”
The service was held at Harmony Hall Arts Center at 10701 Livingston Rd Fort Washington, Maryland. It’s the organization's second memorial service for Black men that were lynched in Prince George’s County, Maryland. Its first was for Thomas Jurricks.