SAN FRANCISCO — As Mayor London Breed tries to close San Francisco’s $800 million budget deficit, one of her proposals to cut funding for the community ambassador program is drawing strong opposition. Supervisor Dean Preston is leading the way, introducing a resolution to take the program off the chopping block.
Community Ambassadors cover more than half a dozen neighborhoods in San Francisco. They help connect homeless people with resources and speak more than eight languages to reach the city’s diverse communities.
John Britt was one of them and worked in the Tenderloin. “It provides a service that no one else does,” Britt said.
Britt says he covered every inch of the tenderloin, went through alleys and saw many suffering from drug overdoses.
“When I was walking with my colleague and we were walking down Turk Street, we saw a woman lying halfway on the sidewalk and halfway on the street and she overdosed,” he recalls. “We actually had to take her to Narcan and revive her. That made it clear to me that the job is very important because people walking by didn’t even notice her.”
According to District 5 Supervisor Dean Preston, SF’s Office of Civic Engagement and Immigrant Affairs’ ambassador program is nationally recognized and used as a model in other cities.
“There has never been any discussion about phasing it out, phasing it out, reducing it, etc.,” Supervisor Preston said. “So we were really shocked when the budget essentially eliminated that program.”
Supervisor Preston says the program costs about $3 million a year and he believes the city can find other ways to make up the shortfall.
“This is one of the last things that should be on the chopping block,” he said. “So should we cut our budget? Sure, but we don’t need to focus on a program like this that is a real source of pride and really so important for public safety and for positive interactions in our neighborhoods.”
Britt hopes community ambassadors will continue to walk the streets.
“If the program were to be discontinued it would be a really big loss for the community as a whole because they really provide a great service,” he said.
Five other supervisors are co-sponsoring Preston’s resolution. The hope is that with a united voice, the program can be saved.
