Advocates urge Prince George's County to boost disability worker pay

Yannick Wunno has spent nearly a decade as a direct support professional, and on the sidewalk outside the Wayne K. Curry Administration Building in Largo he said the job that helps people with intellectual and developmental disabilities live safely in the community has become harder to sustain. Dozens of advocates, workers and families gathered April 21 at 1301 McCormick Drive to push Prince George’s County leaders to raise the county’s supplemental funding for Direct Support Professionals from $4.6 million to $6.9 million. Standing in a circle, demonstrators chanted, “we are beautiful, we are strong,” while Wunno said, “I love what I’m doing,” even as the pay makes it harder to keep up with rent, groceries, gas and child care.

The rally landed in the middle of county budget season. County Executive Aisha Braveboy unveiled the proposed FY 2027 budget on March 12, after the county said it had closed a $170 million structural deficit. The proposal totals about $5.9 billion, up from the $5.8 billion budget adopted for FY 2026, and county officials have been holding budget listening sessions as residents weigh what should get funded next. Advocates want the council and administration to make one of those choices plain: whether disability care workers will be paid enough to stay in the field.

Workers at the rally said DSPs in Prince George’s County typically earn about $15 to $18 an hour. That range puts them below or near nearby labor markets, where a Washington, D.C., average for DSPs came in at $19.52 an hour, a Gaithersburg average at $20.96, and a Rockville average at $22.06. One Howard County posting also offered $22 an hour. The gap helps explain why providers say they keep losing staff to jobs that do not require the same level of skill but pay more.

The county supplement exists to enhance wages for DSPs at DDA-licensed agencies serving people with intellectual and developmental disabilities in Prince George’s County, while Maryland’s Developmental Disabilities Administration sets reimbursement rates for providers and self-directing participants. Advocates say more than 18,000 Marylanders rely on DSPs to live and work in the community, and they warn that state budget cuts and lower reimbursement rates are squeezing agencies just as families depend on workers for transportation, appointments and daily support. With another county budget hearing looming, the question before county leaders is whether Prince George’s will spend enough to keep the people who make independent living possible.