Springfield Preservation and Revitalization Council (SPAR) is now accepting applications for the Board of Directors. The organization has lead preservation and revitalization efforts in the Springfield community since 1974, and is a key advocate for quality-of-life improvements on behalf of residents, business owners, and stakeholders alike. Applications will be accepted until September 18, 2020. [More]

Name: Carlottra Guyton

Location: Boulevard Street

Occupation: Retired financial investigator

Fun Fact: Carlottra has a heart for volunteering. She's been involved with many organizations through the years, including Leadership Jacksonville (c/o 96), Jacksonville Urban League, and served as our local SHADCO chair (now called Sheriff's Watch) for almost 10 years. She currently serves on leadership committees for the Wells Fargo Community Learning Center and Delta Sigma Theta Society Inc, Jacksonville Alumnae Chapter.

What brought you to the Springfield Historic District?

Believe it or not, it wasn't for the architecture or historic character. I know that's what a lot of people move here for now, but back when I bought in 1994, I was looking for a good deal in the place I would feel comfortable in. And it took some convincing, trust me it did, but I came around and am so glad I did. You see, I was coming out of a divorce and needed a home to call my own. Most of my friends wanted me to buy in Arlington or Southside, definitely NOT Springfield. Anywhere but Springfield! Even the thought of moving to Springfield was laughable to me at the time. This neighborhood was known for drugs and crime then, and not much else. Or so I thought. I had friend in Neighborhood Housing Services who had a meeting in Springfield. There were efforts being made, even back in the early 1990s, to turn around the neighborhood. She knew I was looking for a home and wanted me to visit the neighborhood just to see it, to see what was happening. So I did. I met her at the Woman's Club building on West 7th Street and what I saw shocked me! I saw all these white people, quite frankly, in the room, most who had relocated to live there from out of state. Locals wouldn't move here because of the reputation, you see, so we had lots of newcomers to Jacksonville in the neighborhood back then. So I knew the neighborhood was on the upswing, but I wasn't 100% sold yet. Another friend, Richard Harrell, was recruiting professional blacks to move to the neighborhood and was relatively successful at it. He had a phenomenal personality, so you couldn't help but love him and listen to what he was saying. People who turned out to be community leaders like Tonya Weathersby and The Spanns were recruited by Richard. And that's what really convinced me to come to Springfield: friends who I trusted and opened my eyes to what the neighborhood was aspiring to be. But let me tell you, most of my friends thought I had lost my mind!

BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING
Monday, August 20, 2018

6:00pm Southern Moss Realty

Present: Todd Hollinghead, President, Aaron Glick, Vice President, Jaimee Stewart, Secretary, Bill Hoff, Ex Officio, Kelly Lezama, Michelle Tappouni, Joey Marchy, Tim Hope, Michael Montoya, Mark Morley

Not Present: Janie Coffey, Jack Adams, Treasurer, Yolanda Copeland, Soner Acar

Staff/Resources Present: Kelly Rich, Executive Director, Heather Benfield, Administrator

Guests: Diane Graese, Mallik Singhareddy, Ed from Paved to Perfection

CALL TO ORDER

The meeting was called to order by President Todd Hollinghead at 6:10pm

1748 Bakehouse 1748 N. Main St. Jacksonville, FL 32206 843.283.1835 Website	8103 Clothing  1715 N. Main St. Jacksonville, FL 32206 Website Facebook
An Olde Time Hardware 3732 N. Main St. Jacksonville, FL 32206 904.353.2645 Facebook	Avela Day Spa 1445 N. Main St. Jacksonville, FL 32206 904.353.3700 Facebook
Belle Epoque Realty Services 904.382.7695 Website Facebook	Big House of Glass and Vape 1724 N. Main St. Jacksonville, FL 32206 904.440.9408	The Block Skate Supply 1717 N. Main St. Jacksonville, FL 32206 904.374.4980 Website Facebook
Bloom Realty 2104 Park St. #102 Jacksonville, FL 32205 904.701.0096 Website Facebook	Boys and Girls Club of Northeast Florida - Citi Teen Center   313 E. 10th St. Jacksonville, FL 32205 904.791.9719 Website Facebook	Catie Rosie's Comfort Cuisine Jacksonville, FL 32206 Website Facebook
Catlin Truck Accessories 1215 N. Main St. Jacksonville, FL 32206 904.354.8521 Website Facebook	Cavendish Partners 25 N. Market St. Jacksonville, FL 32206 904.234.6002 Website	Classic Maven Boutique 157 E. 8th St. Jacksonville, FL 32206 Website
Crissie Cudd, Broker Associate RE/MAX Watermarke 1665 San Marco Boulevard Jacksonville, FL 32207 904.503.3956 Website	E2 Design and Construction 6900 Philips Highway, Suite 31 Jacksonville, FL 32216 904.923.5003 Website Facebook	Eddis and Sons P.O. Box 2025 Jacksonville, FL 32203 904.609.4808 Facebook
EXIT Real Estate Gallery 3584 St. Johns Avenue Jacksonville, FL 32205 904.683.5453 Website
GAGA Galaxy Josh and Jennifer Chapman 904-612-5616 Website	Great Expectations Auction & Estate Services 515 E. 9th St. Jacksonville, FL 32206 904.806.4274 Website Facebook	HOLA! Mexican Restaurant 1001 N. Main St. Jacksonville, FL 32206 904.356.3100 Website Facebook
Hyperion Brewing Company 1740 N. Main St. Jacksonville, FL 32206 904.612.3987 Website Facebook	JWB Real Estate Capital 7563 Philips Highway, Suite 109 Jacksonville, FL 32256 904.677.6777 Website	M & M Estate 1651 Walnut Street Jacksonville, FL 32206
Rachelle Miller, Broker Hashtag Realty Group 1010 East Adams Street, Suite 206 Jacksonville, FL 32202 904.891.4455 Website Facebook	Paulk Reinschmidt, CPA 720 St. Johns Bluff Rd. N, Suite 4 Jacksonville, FL 32225 904.997.7161 Website
Petra Management, Inc. 2440 Mayport Road, Suite 7 Atlantic Beach, FL 32233 904.241.1151 Website Facebook	Pottsburg Creek Animal Clinic 7540 Hogan Road Jacksonville, FL 32216 904.724.8866 Website Facebook	Prime Lending  122276 San Jose Boulevard, Suite 747 Jacksonville, FL 32223 904.404.8029 Website
The Sanctuary on 8th Street 120 E. 8th St. Jacksonville, FL  32206 904.356.3588 Website Facebook	Sargent Upholstery 44 E. 1st St. Jacksonville, FL 32206 904.355.2529 Website Facebook	Smith Brothers Plastering Company  2539 Edison Ave. Jacksonville, FL  32204 904.387.2481 Website
Social Grounds Coffee 1712 N. Main Street Jacksonville, FL  32206 904.469.3703 Website Facebook	Mark Riccaboni Certified Professional Inspector Southern Brothers 904.747.0888 Website	Simply Kesay Boutique Lakecia Walker 1835 N. Pearl St. Jacksonville, FL 32206 904.707.1725 Website
Southern Moss Realty 1501 N. Main St. Jacksonville, FL 32206 904.518.4130 Website Facebook	Standard Feed & Seed 1236 Kings Road Jacksonville, FL 32204 904.355.5575 Website
Strings Sports Brewery 1850 N. Main St. Jacksonville, FL 32206 Facebook	Superior Fence and Rail 5470 Highway Avenue Jacksonville, FL 32254 904.683.6349 Website	Swisher International 459 E. 16th St. Jacksonville, FL 32206 904.353.4311 Website
Tara Braithwaite, Broker Associate 7741 Pointe Meadows Dr. Suite 101 Jacksonville, FL 32256 904.455.9175 Website	The Understory Film Company Jacksonville, FL  720.323.3276 Website
Terra Wise Homes 1321 N. Main St. Jacksonville, FL 32206 904.800.9473 Website Facebook	Trautmann & Company, LLC 9378 Arlington Expressway #337 Jacksonville, FL  32225 904.355.1918 Website Facebook	Uptown Kitchen & Bar 1303 N. Main St. Jacksonville, FL 32206 904.355.0733 Website Facebook
Wafaa and Mike's  1544 N. Main St. Jacksonville, FL 32206 904.683.8313 Facebook		Walk Wag Pet and Purr 619.701.3753 Website Facebook
Watson Realty Southside 4540 Southside Blvd. Ste. 1 Jacksonville FL 32216 904.641.4343 Website	The Whole Story Home Inspection, LLC 904.910.2958 Website Facebook

General Members

 an affiliate of SPAR

Springfield Area Merchants and Business Association (SAMBA) works to:

• Promote civic pride and awareness of Springfield’s assets, particularly those of the business community, through marketing, fundraising and cultural participation; 
• Recruits professionals and business owners to open offices and retail establishments in our area to provide a greater range of goods and services and job opportunities;
• Collaborates with other neighborhood organizations and government agencies on projects designed to enhance the quality of life in our business district and surrounding neighborhoods; and
• Offers educational and networking opportunities to member businesses.

SAMBA ACCOMPLISHMENTS & GOALS

SAMBA has grown and flourished throughout Springfield’s Sesquicentennial year. 

Since the inception of the Facade Grant program in 2017, over $15,000 in grants have been disbursed to twelve Springfield businesses.

SAMBA recently introduced the Quarterly Mini-Grant, which will assist neighborhood businesses in the planning and promotion of business-related events in Springfield. 

In 2019, SAMBA formed an Advisory Committee, made up of SAMBA members, to help with the disbursement of SAMBA funds and with future projects. This committee was designed to represent business owners from each aspect of the community. Positions are designated as follows two in the food/beverage industry, one in retail, one in home-based business, and one property owner. 

SAMBA continually works with local governmental agencies to provide beautification and pedestrian upgrades to the neighborhood; including improvements to crosswalks, plantings in tree wells and on Main Street medians, more trash cans on Main Street, electrical improvements on Main Street, and continuing conversations with FDOT to move forward with a road diet along Main Street.

We’ve had a lot of growth in the last 3 years. In 2017, we had an average of 12 attendees at our meetings, in 2018 we grew to an average of 24 attendees, and in 2019, we maintained our average of 25 attendees.

Membership has grown from no regular dues paying members in 2017 to 81 members as of 12/3/2019.

We had a wonderful collective of speakers at our 2019 SAMBA meetings, including:

- LISC Jacksonville, Devin Thompson – economic rejuvenation of Springfield and guide for small businesses through grant making and lender options

- Metro North board member and former SPAR Executive Director, Brenda Boydston – Community Contribution Tax Credit Program (CCTCP)

- SPAR Executive Director, Kelly Rich – Main Street Conference

- Bonnie Upright, APR – social media and communications for businesses

- Social Grounds Coffee owner, Jason Kelloway - hiring Veterans and ways to support the community around you via nonprofit organizations

We have reached out to local publications that are willing to offer a group page for local Springfield businesses, and have had representatives from those publications at SAMBA meetings so businesses can have a one-on-one opportunity to discuss advertising options.

We created the “Have You Been to Springfield Lately?” poster campaign in 2019. These posters help to promote Springfield businesses outside of the neighborhood (i.e. Stadium District and Downtown) to draw on the attendance to concerts, football games, and other big events. 

SAMBA works with Visit Jacksonville to keep the Springfield neighborhood page updated with new content on at least a quarterly basis. We also share additional opportunities through Visit Jacksonville with our members.

We coordinated a collaboration between Springfield breweries and Aardwolf Brewing Company and Intuition Ale works to create a special beer for the Sesquicentennial called Ses-Q Saison. Through our partnership with Champion Brands, we hosted pop-up events throughout Northeast Florida in 2019 for this beer. This gave the Springfield breweries significant additional exposure for their brands and built awareness of Springfield as a whole.

We are generally one of the first points of contact for businesses who are interested in opening in Springfield. From meeting with business owners to discuss neighborhood needs, logistics, and playing “match maker” with commercial property owners; we are a valued resource for new business owners. We also have ongoing discussions with developers about Springfield neighborhood needs; and have had multiple meetings about potential grocery stores and gas stations coming to the neighborhood. We are also a resource for established businesses, and have helped find sponsors, vendors, musicians, and volunteers for events hosted by Springfield businesses.

SAMBA has worked to coordinate meetings between our Councilman and city departments when businesses have had issues with opening.

SAMBA shares relevant posts on our social media pages.

Our goals for 2020 include working closely with the Advisory Committee to focus on positive marketing of our Commercial Corridor.

Connect with SAMBA

Click here for the SAMBA membership directory

Our community is a social one, with a plethora of events throughout the year to enjoy - which require planning!

The Annual Tour of Homes, July 4th Throwback Baseball Game, Jacksonville PorchFest and other events depend on volunteers to coordinate and plan. If you have a knack for organizing events, or just want to lend a hand, there's a spot for you!

Send us an email to let us know.