2023 San Francisco Community Ambassador Report
The City worked with civic and private-sector partners to assemble this comprehensive audit and inventory of the public or quasi-public ambassador programs actively deployed throughout San Francisco’s public spaces. The report aims to provide a comprehensive overview of ambassador programs in San Francisco. It examines their structures, management, interactions with communities, funding sources and provides recommendations for coordinating and aligning these programs
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Supporting Street Response
The City and County of San Francisco operates, funds, and/or coordinates directly with many of the roughly 34 street ambassador programs throughout the city via the Coordinated Street Response Program. It is also tightening coordination between street crisis response teams and citywide ambassador programs city-wide through work with the Healthy Streets Initiative.
About Street Ambassador Programs
Ambassadors are people employed to offer critical supplementary services in select neighborhoods throughout the city, where services may not be present or offered at a sufficient level. Most ambassador programs offer services that fall into the following four categories: cleaning, safety, wellness, and hospitality. Community Benefit Districts (CBDs) also operate many of the street ambassador programs in San Francisco’s commercial and mixed-use corridors. CBDs, also known as Business Improvement Districts (BIDs), strive to improve the quality of life within their self-taxing district. Additionally, San Francisco Public Works funds and manages 31 “Pit Stops” (public restrooms) in 13 neighborhoods and supports around 1,000 hours a month of street cleaning.
Connecting Programs
Watch this section for program resources, connection to other programs, updates in the Ambassador space, and more.
See all locations for the Ambassador Programs
About
San Francisco’s street ambassador programs play a vital role in keeping our city clean and safe, as well as our businesses, residents, and visitors informed. Ambassador programs offer critical supplementary services, throughout many neighborhoods in the city, where services may not be present or offered at a sufficient level. Most ambassador programs offer services that fall into the following four categories:
- Cleaning – Sweeping, power washing, and other forms of waste removal.
- Safety – Presence to prevent or de-escalate threatening or challenging environments.
- Wellness – Proactive presence to check on the physical and mental health of people in the public right of way, with referral to services at times.
- Hospitality – Wayfinding, greeting the public, providing a friendly face in sometimes challenging environments, Public Space Stewardship (e.g., event support, staffing a point of interest, such as a playground or art installation).