PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY — LaTonsha “LT” Pridgen (D) is running to represent the voice of the people in Coles District as a member the Prince William County Board of Supervisors.
She says she’s running to improve education, transportation, and to bring more jobs to Prince William County.
On the issues
On the issue of education, Pridgen wants to address the overcrowding of Prince William County Public Schools and build closer ties between the County School Board and Board of Supervisors, which funds the schools. She also wants to reevaluate the revenue sharing bill, last amended in April 2013 where the Board of Supervisors automatically provides 57.23% of the county’s budget directly to the school division.
“What we have right now is not working,” Pridgen said. “Education is critical and vital. I believe education can truly help us get to a place of equity.”
Additionally, Pridgen has expressed her opinions on the importance of raising teacher salaries.
“In order for us to give children the quality education that we know they deserve, we have to be willing to invest in our teachers,” Pridgen said.
The Board of Supervisors places no specific mandates on how the school board appropriates its funds.
Since a majority of Prince William residents leave the county for work, Pridgen wants to recruit companies and jobs that would pay a livable wage for residents. She wants to ensure that people can both live and work within the county.
“We should market Prince William to big businesses,” Pridgen said. “We should know the skill sets of the people who reside in the county, we should do our economic research and studies, and we should figure out what types of companies we could bring here that wouldn’t overburden our infrastructure.”
Today, the largest employers in Prince William are the county school division and Walmart.
As for public transportation, Pridgen advocates for affordable, convenient mass transportation. She believes that the VRE should consistently run both ways during the day.
“Public transportation needs to be able to serve everyone in the county,” Pridgen said. “I know that in Coles, it does not serve everyone.”
Grassroots work for Democrats
Pridgen is a first-time candidate. Now that the Midterm elections are over, she is now focusing on her own campaign.
Currently, she works as a project manager for CARFAX, and in her spare time, she does grassroots work for democratic campaigns.
In the November midterm elections, Pridgen went door-to-door canvassing for several democratic candidates including Tim Kaine, Jennifer Wexton, and Vangie Williams. She actively attends fundraisers and meetings for the Prince William Democratic Committee.
Pridgen grew up in Dallas, in an environment in which water and electricity were luxuries. The school was her only guarantee of a hot meal, and teachers were often the only people who gave her a friendly word each day, she said.
“Growing up in that type of environment made me feel like I was meant to serve,” Pridgen said. “I believed that I was going to make sure that people like me always have a voice.”
Pridgen moved to Virginia in 2013 and has since started advocating for legislation to protect children.
In addition to volunteer work at children’s advocacy centers and women’s shelters, Pridgen founded a nonprofit organization named Stomp out the Silence. Stomp out the Silence focuses on the education and prevention of childhood sexual abuse. It was founded in 2014 and achieved federal tax exemption in 2017.
She helped fight for the Virginia Senate Bill 101 that was approved on March 29, 2018. The bill gives family life education programs in schools the choice to discuss and raise awareness about child abuse. It’s patrons were Jennifer McClellan, Barbara Favola, Scott Surovell, Wexton, Adam Ebbin, and Kaye Kory,.
“Seeing that bill actually pass helped me realize that we can get things done from within the system,” Pridgen said.
