Shayla Adams-Stafford Makes District 5 Her Business
Turning District Assets Into Engines of Opportunity
Story and Photography By Raoul Dennis
Prince George’s County Councilmember Shayla Adams-Stafford is approaching economic development with the mindset of both a legislator and an entrepreneur: identify underused assets, assemble the right people and create a strategy capable of turning opportunity into investment.
Adams-Stafford announced a number of her initiatives at a July 8 meeting of the Greater Prince George’s Business Roundtable.
Representing District 5, which stretches along the Route 50 corridor from Landover toward the Port Towns, Adams-Stafford has launched or advanced a broad collection of initiatives focused on retail redevelopment, commercial ownership, workforce development, entertainment production, advanced manufacturing and national and international investment.
“I come to this work as someone who is a business owner,” Adams-Stafford told a recent audience, noting that she has operated a software development and training company for 15 years. “It’s very exciting to be in this role to bring that expertise to this legislative work.”
At the center of her strategy is a fundamental question: How can District 5 better capitalize on assets it already possesses?
One major proposal is a Landover Redevelopment Authority, envisioned as a vehicle to help revitalize an area containing significant redevelopment opportunities, including the former Landover Mall property, the Commanders site and other properties that Adams-Stafford said have suffered from blight or neglect for decades.
Her approach began with creating a Retail Advisory Committee, bringing together commercial real estate professionals, community leaders and other experts to examine District 5 parcel by parcel. The group has worked on buyer profiles, successful retail-development case studies, broker engagement strategies and ways to influence development at specific sites.
That work is already helping shape a larger vision for the Prince George’s Sports & Learning Complex.
Thousands of athletes, families and spectators visit the complex, particularly during major competitions, but Adams-Stafford sees an economic-development gap surrounding that traffic. She said the area lacks sufficient restaurants, retail and supporting amenities and that infrastructure limitations can restrict its ability to host some large-scale events.
Her vision includes upgrading the complex and surrounding environment with improved facades and new amenities that could include dining, rock climbing, wellness and personal-care businesses. Planning funds for the concept made it through the county budget process, she said, moving the idea closer to formal development.
Adams-Stafford is also looking toward an emerging creative economy.
With MegaMind Media expected to establish a production studio at the former Fairmont Heights High School property, she sees an opportunity to build an entire business ecosystem around film and media production. She said the studio produces 15 to 20 films annually, creating the potential to stimulate demand for production crews, vendors, technical talent and related businesses.
Her Creative Communities Act is designed to help connect production companies, pool resources and strengthen the county’s creative-industry infrastructure.
Another initiative addresses transparency in development. Through the Transparency in Land Use Act, information about pre-application development meetings will be publicly accessible online and searchable by council district. Adams-Stafford believes greater access can do more than inform residents—it can help residents recognize opportunities to participate economically in projects coming to their communities.
Workforce development is another pillar of the agenda.
Working with Councilmember Timothy Adams, she helped advance the Service-Disabled Veteran Procurements Act, providing qualifying veteran-owned businesses with additional preference in competing for county contracting opportunities. She has also supported an Employer Apprenticeship Incentives Program to encourage businesses to employ apprentices.
Her ambitions extend into technology and advanced industry. Through a Quantum Workforce Expansion Resolution, Adams-Stafford wants county educational programs better aligned with the emerging quantum sector. She has also discussed attracting advanced manufacturing to District 5, including the possibility of developing a facility capable of drawing companies and creating a pipeline of skilled jobs.
That strategy increasingly reaches beyond Maryland.
Following a delegation to Korea and a reverse trade mission that brought potential investors to tour District 5 sites, Adams-Stafford is pursuing a proposed Prince George’s County Invest Week. Funding was included in the budget, she said, with the goal of showcasing investment-ready opportunities to national and international businesses.
Perhaps one of her most community-centered ideas is the Own the Block Initiative.
Adams-Stafford argues that residents frequently call for better restaurants, stores and services but often lack ownership of the commercial properties where decisions about tenants are made. The initiative, planned in partnership with the county’s economic development apparatus, would provide training to help more local entrepreneurs and investors acquire commercial and retail properties.
“What we want to do is incentivize more local commercial ownership,” she explained.
Together, the initiatives reveal a business-development philosophy that goes beyond recruiting individual stores or announcing isolated projects. Adams-Stafford is attempting to connect real estate, local ownership, workforce training, technology, entertainment, sports tourism and global investment into a broader economic ecosystem.
For District 5, the goal is transformation. For Prince George’s County, the larger proposition is equally significant: that economic development can create more lasting wealth when residents are not simply consumers of growth—but owners, entrepreneurs, workers and investors within it.
