In an effort to address San Francisco’s homelessness crisis, ambassadors from the nonprofit Glide Memorial Church have begun canvassing the neighborhood and providing direct resources to those living on the streets.
“I’m here to offer hope to all the unhoused guests that are here, and just take care of my city like I always wanted to do,” said Oscar Salinas, Cecil Williams Community Ambassador.
Salinas puts on his purple ambassador vest and walks about eight miles on duty, around the Tenderloin District. He makes sure he has snacks and socks to provide to those in need throughout the neighborhood.
“We are there for them on a human level. We communicate with them because we come from the street. We understand it and what we want to do is not just move them, but improve them,” he said.
Salinas added that he believes the more moral solution to improving San Francisco is not clearing out homeless encampments, but rather recruiting and providing the unhoused with resources.
In July, Governor Gavin Newsom issued an executive order for local governments to address the homelessness crisis by getting them off the street.
“The long-term goal is that they’re not walking around in the streets anymore when you’re dealing with the brooms, we’re just moving them. But then we come in. We do the compassionate part, we do it with unconditional love and we put continue the mission of Cecil Williams,” he said.
During his shifts, Salinas makes sure to take his phone with him to register homeless people at nearby shelters.
“We have confirmation that we’ve sent about six people home. So that in itself is a reward,” he said.
Andre Torrey, the San Francisco Department of Emergency Management’s street response coordinator, helped plan the nonprofit’s ambassador program.
“I’ve definitely seen some impact there. We’ve had a lot of good feedback from merchants, some neighborhood associations and other people. So I would say yes. It’s early days, but certainly a lot of great feedback and certainly some visible changes.” Torrey told CBS News Bay Area.
Ambassadors like Salinas also help local businesses by flagging storefronts covered in graffiti.
“They’ll take care of the graffiti. And as you can see, there’s no graffiti here and no graffiti on the wall, so she’s pretty happy,” Salinas said after checking into a local dry cleaning business in the Tenderloin District.
Salinas is a first-generation San Franciscan. He said his passion for helping the community lies on a deeper level.
“I’ve been in recovery for 13 to 14 months now. So I have a lot of contact with AA and things like that. So I have a connection with people who are unhoused and who are struggling right now with staying sober and staying clean,” said he.
“Everyone thinks it is dangerous here. I would like to invite everyone to come here and walk with us,” he added.
