SF Community Ambassadors Program to Close

SAN FRANCISCO – After 16 years of service to San Francisco communities, the San Francisco Office of Civic Engagement & Immigrant Affairs (OCEIA) will close its Community Ambassadors Program on May 6, 2026. This decision comes as the City works to address a projected budget shortfall.

OCEIA launched the Community Ambassadors Program in 2010 in the Bayview and Visitacion Valley neighborhoods as a response to cultural and linguistic tensions, increased violence, and the need for community-based safety options. Since then, the program expanded to other neighborhoods across the city, including Chinatown, Civic Center, Fillmore, Haight, Hayes Valley, Mid-Market/Tenderloin, Mission, and the Outer Sunset.

OCEIA’s Community Ambassadors Program became a model for other ambassador programs, providing a visible, non-law enforcement safety presence. Since the inception of the program, over 400 individuals have served as ambassadors with extensive training and broader workforce support services. Hired directly from the communities they served, ambassadors were trained in a variety of skills to promote community safety and wellness, including de-escalation, crisis intervention, violence prevention, overdose prevention, and trauma-informed and community-centered approaches. Ambassadors acted as a bridge between the City government and community members, including vulnerable populations who are low-income, experiencing homelessness, limited-English speaking, immigrants, and older adults. By conducting multilingual outreach to connect people to services and increase civic engagement, from participation in the decennial census count to providing essential health and safety information during the pandemic, ambassadors helped to make communities safer, better informed, and more inclusive.

Over the past 16 years, Community Ambassadors conducted over 1.8 million interactions, including over 420,000 wellness checks, 420,000 merchant visits, 80,000 service referrals, and 50,000 safety escorts. Ambassadors also saved dozens of lives by administering NARCAN and played a vital role in outreach efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic.

As the Community Ambassadors Program concludes operations, OCEIA would like to thank the many hardworking and talented ambassadors who have proudly served the residents and visitors of San Francisco over the past 16 years with compassion and care. OCEIA would also like to thank the program’s many partners and champions, from schools and small businesses to non-profit organizations, community leaders and events across the city.

Although OCEIA’s Community Ambassadors Program is coming to an end, the program has inspired many other ambassador programs that continue to serve our city. San Franciscans and visitors can continue to seek services and information by calling 311.

Learn more about OCEIA’s Community Ambassadors Program at: sf.gov/communityambassadors

Stay connected with OCEIA’s work and resources at: sf.gov/ociea