SAMA MISSION STATEMENT UPDATE
SAMA is about to celebrate 20 years of awesome-ness next year, and the Board has been evaluating SAMA’s purpose and what we hope to achieve in the next 20 years. Of course, you can’t really know where you’re going, unless you know where you’ve been so the Board invited past presidents, the City of Phoenix & SAMA creator, Lisa Huggins-Hubbard, and former board members to a Mission Statement Forum on November 1st.
SAMA’s mission tenants are Beautification, Safety, Community, & Revitalization - these are great, and will always be part of SAMA, but moving into the future we need to decide how we are going to stay relevant, and affect change, while preserving Melrose’s unique history and vibe. Melrose District is evolving and SAMA has some big goals, like influencing development projects, removing the reverse lane, increasing member participation, and create commerce within Melrose. To achieve these goals, we need to expand the SAMA Umbrella—Melrose District will always remain– but we want to add districts like Camelback Corridor, Encanto, Willow, Bethany Home, etc. with the increased revenue and larger geographical area we can support more business, drive more traffic to 7th Ave, and achieve our goals. With all this mind we drafted the following:
The mission of the 7th Avenue Merchants Association is to promote strong bonds among our local merchants and surrounding neighborhoods, supporting the diverse heritage of our district, and advocating for the prosperous growth of our local business community.
We want your feedback! You can message us on Facebook or contact us through MelroseOn7thAvenue.com.
Thanks you to everyone who attended the Mission Statement Forum! It was a great time and great conversation!