It’s barely 9:30 a.m. on a Tuesday morning and Community Ambassador Jenny Do has already completed wellness checks on three unhoused individuals on the Irving Street corridor.

Jenny’s offer of assistance is declined by a couple who prefer their tent in a parking lot. But she is pleased that a man in a tent down the street seemed willing to visit the Project Homeless Connect drop-in center on Franklin Street, where he’d be offered clean, warm clothing, a backpack, a hygiene kit, and a voucher for a haircut.

Jenny explained to him how to take two buses to get to the location. Following protocols, she is always respectful, never insistent.

As Jenny continues on her beat, she checks in with merchants, who keep the community ambassador cell number handy and call when they want an ambassador to discourage a shoplifter or deter someone who is harassing customers.

She is alert to older people who may need help crossing the street or stepping off a bus. Ambassadors offer a safety escort to children crossing streets and assist crossing guards at neighborhood schools. 

“I’m a mother myself,” Jenny says. “I know kids don’t always look where they are going!” It's the adults who step into the street while focused on their cell phones that concern her. 

San Francisco’s Office of Civic Engagement and Immigrant Affairs, known as OCEIA, dispatches community ambassadors in six neighborhoods, including the Outer Sunset, as a visible, non-law enforcement safety presence.

Our community ambassadors are city employees who wear yellow and black jackets. They walk Sunset neighborhoods weekdays focused on public safety. They escort kids and seniors, check in with businesses, and call in problems to police and fire officials.

They work in conjunction with the police ambassadors in blue jackets — retired police officers who walk Sunset merchant corridors with radios on weekdays and weekends.

Both sets of ambassadors are a welcome sight in the Sunset. They fill a much needed gap as San Francisco faces a shortage of more than 500 police officers. The ambassadors help the community feel safe while freeing up the officers we have to focus on the most serious crimes.

Jenny and Chris are among ambassadors wearing yellow and black jackets who walk in pairs along Irving, Noriega, and Taraval streets. They also work special events. Jenny and Chris report issues like vandalism, graffiti, illegal parking and dumping, and human waste to the city’s 311 service center. Chris also hears regularly from Supervisor Joel Engardio’s office, which alerts him to issues that need an ambassador’s attention. 

In the case of people with addiction and mental health issues, ambassadors direct them to the appropriate human services agencies. But when they encounter people with addiction or mental health issues who are being disruptive, they call 911. Jenny points with pride to the huge tally of calls on her phone — an astounding 3,248 calls to the service center over the past year. 

“The merchants really suffer from shoplifting,” she says, adding that the problem has worsened since the pandemic.

Ambassadors tactfully try to discourage shoplifters. They aren’t permitted to pursue them but can summon police. When they deem it safe, they try to convince shoplifters to put the merchandise back.

Earlier this year, Jenny and Chris became heroes who gave Sunset parents peace of mind after a man with a machete entered the Little Footprints preschool. The intruder didn’t hurt anyone and left. Police apprehended the man, who was put on a three-day psych hold. But when parents feared the man would return, Jenny and Chris patrolled the sidewalk outside the preschool.

Jenny’s first year as an ambassador was spent in the MidMarket/Tenderloin, where she has volunteered since 2015 with a soup kitchen run by the Fraternite Notre Dame. For the past year, she’s been assigned to the Outer Sunset, where she and her family have lived for a decade.

Her compassion for those she serves is evident, whether for a merchant tired of dirty sidewalks, a resident who resents a tent appearing in the neighborhood, or for the unhoused themselves. Many, she says, suffer from mental disorders or drug addiction, and often both. Despite the challenges, her attitude is unfailingly positive.

“I love serving the people in my community,” she says. “We’re happy to see each other every morning.” 

Jenny set out to be a nurse, but when the pandemic forced City College to move her classes on-line, she turned to the communityaAmbassador program. Like Jenny, ambassador Chris Gotera had his plans for the future derailed by the pandemic. 

The pandemic forced Chris to find another job – to “reinvent” himself, as he puts it. After attending presentations at the Success Centers, a nonprofit workforce training program in the Fillmore, he signed up for the community ambassador training program at the city’s Jobs Now program. That led to being accepted as a public service trainee at the OCEIA Ambassador program.

In addition to offering training as a community ambassador, the program also offers two hours a week to ambassadors for professional development, including language and computer study, resume writing, and other practical job skills.

“It’s a really robust program for skills development,” says Chris, who is the lead for the seven ambassadors working the Sunset. “I’m very lucky to be in it.”

Now, after almost a year walking the streets of the Sunset, Chris says the pandemic has been a blessing in disguise for him, setting him on a new and promising career path. He’s confident he’s getting the training and experience necessary to forge a career in public service when his three-year contract is up.

Being an ambassador is about building relationships with residents and merchants,” Chris says. “The payoff isn’t overnight; there’s no instant gratification. We began to have an impact after weeks of checking in with merchants every day, winning the trust of the community.” 

For example, he says, if an unhoused person is causing a problem in front of a local store, the merchant will now be comfortable calling the ambassador for help. In such cases the ambassador will conduct a wellness check on the person and try to find him or her help.

“I really enjoy my interactions with people,” Chris says. “You never know what you’ll run into; there’s an element of randomness – like plucking a piece of candy from a box of chocolates. And there’s always the chance you’ll make a positive impact on someone’s life.”

Reported and written by volunteer community journalists Tom Colin and Jan Cook. We encourage retired journalists and student journalists in high school and college to volunteer as writers for Supervisor Engardio’s newsletter. Interested? Apply here. Do you know a story you would like to see featured in the newsletter? Tell us about it here.