Celebrating a diverse client roster as #HMATurns40
HMA Public Relations has a rich history providing comprehensive public relations services to a wide variety of clients over the past 40 years.
I joined the firm fulltime in July 1993. I had been freelancing for the agency for about a year before that. I was brought on to handle the agency’s work on behalf of a coalition of Arizona’s tribal governments who were working together to bring Indian gaming to Arizona. Our role was to raise awareness of tribal sovereignty and the right of these federally recognized governments to develop economic enterprises for their communities. That coalition, now known as the Arizona Indian Gaming Association, was successful in its endeavor then and in subsequent years as gaming compacts were renegotiated.
Today, gaming generates nearly $5 billion in annual economic output and produces thousands of jobs throughout the state. And with these resources, tribes throughout the state have now developed additional economic enterprises and have reinvested back in their communities’ infrastructure including education and healthcare
And since that time, HMA has maintained its relationships with Arizona’s tribes and continues to provide public relations/public information services across the region.
Another area of expertise for the firm is our work in the disability community. Almost since the beginning of our firm, we have supported nonprofit organizations. In the mid-‘90s we were approached by a disability advocacy organization called ABIL (now Ability360). It was well-known within the disability community, but the community-at-large was generally unaware of the services the organization provides and its important role in advocating for equal rights and equal access. There was not a topic of interest in Arizona that did not have an impact on the disability community. Education, healthcare, transportation, voting, among others.
Our involvement with ABIL led to contracts with several other clients within the disability community, including the Arizona Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, Arizona Center for Disability Law and ACCEL.
Providing public relations services to these organizations has been one of most fulfilling parts of my professional career, due in large part to the personal impact they have had. To have the opportunity to be introduced and welcomed into tribal cultures and traditions is one of the greatest honors I have received in my career.
To know that the work that we are doing has made a significant difference in the quality of life for hundreds of thousands of individuals in our community is a sense of pride our entire agency shares.
Diversity comes in many sizes, shapes and colors and we proud of our work to date on these important issues.
