The March meeting for the Downtown Resident Group was held on Tuesday, March 25, at the Downtown YMCA. The meeting saw around 20 residents come together, a notable change from the first two meetings of 40-50 residents.
The first half of the meeting featured a Q+A session with Jacob Gatlin, Operations Manager of the Ambassador Program. Residents submitted questions ahead of time to learn more about DTP’s field team of clean and safe ambassadors and outreach services.
Part 1: Q+A Session
Q: How many Ambassadors are there, and what are the two types of ambassadors and their respective responsibilities?
A: There are 18 Ambassadors in total, with 12 Safety Ambassadors and 6 Cleaning Ambassadors. Safety ambassadors sport purple Ambassador shirts and do the outreach, safety, and wellness check side of our program. They often interact with business owners, residents, and visitors to ensure that their experience in Downtown is safe and to support them with any needs they may have in the public realm. Our safety Ambassadors, sporting the teal shirts, oversee beautification and cleanliness Downtown. These are the people who take out public trash, get rid of graffiti, wash our streets and sidewalks, and address other cleaning needs.
Q: How many hours do the Ambassadors work, and do you struggle with a high turnover rate?
A: All our ambassadors work a 40-hour work week to ensure that they are given a full-time employment position. Thursdays and Fridays see all 18 ambassadors scheduled throughout the day due to the busy nature of those days. Throughout the rest of the week, ambassadors fluctuate their schedules but are ensured a 40-hour schedule. We have ambassadors that have been with us since the program’s birth in 2021, and some who have been with us 1-2 months. We don’t necessarily struggle with turnover rate nor a lack of interest or applicants. The main challenge is capacity. Securing funding for additional ambassadors depends entirely on obtaining support from external sources or programs.
Q: What are the biggest challenges you face in managing the Downtown area?
A: It comes down to our availability and reach of all the needs here in Downtown. It is impossible to have everything clean all at once, as we have consistent beautification needs, whether it’s trash, graffiti removal, cleaning sidewalks, trimming trees, etc. It is difficult to provide a visible presence throughout all of Downtown, especially with our current capacity.
Q: Can you share some recent success or ongoing improvements made by the Ambassador team?
A: I’m proud of our hospitality and business contact numbers… we try to make ourselves known as an available resource, especially to those who live and work Downtown. We often communicate with business owners and residents to ensure that the community feels safe, as well as tackle any beautification issues that come our way.
Q: We know that homelessness is an issue, especially in some hotspots in Downtown. What measures do you all take to address this issue and to support those in need?
A: We have a full-time Outreach Coordinator whose sole role is to refer unhoused individuals to local resources and partners. With this role, we can have referrals to partnering agencies, including youth individuals, veterans, those struggling with mental health, etc. Additionally, all our safety ambassadors are trained in de-escalation, and many of the unhoused population in Downtown are familiar with our ambassadors on a name basis and understand that we are a resource. When it comes to dangerous situations that become too drastic for our services, we have an immediate line to TPD officers in the area and serve as a liaison if necessary.
Following these questions, residents came together to ask additional questions as well as share their own experiences with the program. A few residents stated how important this program is, and that they have seen a drastic impact since the program’s launch in 2021.
Part 2: Communications & Committees
Following the Q+A session, residents Timothy Moser and Autumn Corona led a discussion about logistical next steps for communication and possible committee formations. The first point in the discussion derived from the idea that the Downtown Resident Group will eventually be led and organized by residents themselves.
Because of this, it is important to establish a format for communication. Discord was the most accessible platform for this communication. It is important to remember that due to this group being just recently formed, it will take time and especially effort from residents to build out this platform to reach a wide audience of residents throughout Downtown.
There was also an idea about the possibility of forming sub-committees that could focus and work on various projects throughout Downtown, something that can be explored in future meetings as well as throughout the new Discord channel.
The next Downtown Resident Group meeting will be held at McNellie's Pub on Tuesday, April 29, at 6 PM.