CMCBD News
- Blick Art Materials Store Opening
- NEA Grant Awarded for Central Market
- 24 Days of Central Market Arts
- The He(art) of Central Market
- Central Market Light Pole Banners
- Central Market Summer Concerts
- Comcast Newsmakers: Community Guides
- Central Market Community Guides Holiday Service Schedule 2010
- Art in Storefronts Pilot Program Kicks Off
- Market Street Pilot Traffic Changes
- Art in Storefronts
- Central Market Summer Concerts 2009
- Central Market Summer Concerts: Music on Mint Plaza
- Central Market Summer Concerts: Music at 1275 Market Street Plaza
- CMCBD holds benefit for Community Guides Program
- Video: At the Heart of the Matter
- Gays invest in SF's mid-Market area
- Sponsorship Opportunities for CMCBD Benefit
- CMCBD announces 2009 meeting schedule
- Central Market Community Guides Holiday Service Schedule
- Retail Sparks Sixth Street Transformation
- SMWM embraces big picture design, planning
- New Board of Directors Announced
- Meet Tajiri Winesberry, Community Guide Program Manager
- Meet Nick, Community Guide
- SMWM + Slow Food Nation
- A banner year for Central Market
- Meet Natasha, Central Market Dispatcher
- Mid-Market 'caterpillar' transforms into 'butterfly'
- Seductive setting, ProvenÇal dishes at Chez Papa Resto
- Music on Mint Plaza Summer Concerts
- David Bazirgan, Chef, Chez Papa Resto
- Sangiacomo's baby
- Chez Papa Resto now open
- Meet Maurice, Community Guide
- Mint Plaza: Best public or cultural project
- Community Guides help give a hand up
- Streetscape Improvement Plan Underway
- Turning a Neighborhood Around
- Love Thy Neighbor(hood)
- Community Guides begin February 4
- Clean Streets services start February 9
- Central Market CBD names new president
- Central Market CBD Open House
- Central Market Moving Forward
- Mid-Market combats blight with new district
- Central Market Survey
- CBD announces new executive director
Community Guides begin February 4
02/04/2008 12:00am
The Central Market Community Benefit District (CBD) rolls out its long-awaited Community Guides program today; a hybrid public safety, social service outreach, and information service for downtown San Francisco’s Central Market neighborhood.
The Community Guides Program will support the organization’s effort to enhance the safety and well being of all pedestrians within the boundaries of Central Market district and improve the quality of life in the public realm of the neighborhood. The area is bordered by Fifth and Ninth Streets and includes the south side of Market Street and some blocks of Stevenson Street, Jessie Street and, at its most southern point, Mission Street.
The service consists of a trained, multidisciplinary team that includes two full-time Community Guides, a field supervisor, and an operations manager who will act as “eyes and ears” on the street for Central Market merchants and pedestrians, the San Francisco Police Department, and a diverse range of social service providers. A dispatch service will support and maintain communication with the street team while also serving as a call center for the Central Market community for social service needs and non-emergency safety issues.
“This new service is the outgrowth of nearly two years of outreach to and input from a variety of community stakeholders, property owners and residents from the Central Market neighborhood,” said Daniel Hurtado, Executive Director of the Central Market CBD. “This hybrid program integrates a three-prong approach to addressing safety concerns and improving the quality of life in the public realm of Central Market by offering public safety and crime prevention services, social service outreach, and information service,” Hurtado said.
To advance its mission of creating a cleaner, safer and more welcoming environment and as a complement to the Community Guides service, the Central Market CBD will also launch a Clean Streets Program on February 9. The daily service will focus on sidewalk cleaning, graffiti removal, and streetscape maintenance in the district.
About the Community Guides Program
Working Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., the Community Guides will walk the streets of the Central Market district and provide a visible uniformed presence while working to deter crime, reporting potential conflicts and safety hazards, connecting individuals seeking assistance to social service providers, and assisting pedestrians with directions and neighborhood information.
The dispatch service will operate during the same service hours as the Community Guides. The dispatch service will connect the Community Guides to a call center, log all incoming calls, and track non-emergency safety issues and social service outreach needs on the street. The number to the dispatch call center is 415-543-5223.
Safety and Social Service Outreach Training
The Community Guides Team began initial public safety, social service outreach, and customer service training on January 7 in preparation for the launch of the new program.
“The Central Market CBD has been working in partnership with the San Francisco Police Department, the Mayor’s Office, SF FIRST, and other government and non-profit advocacy groups and social service providers to develop a comprehensive training curriculum for the new Community Guides,” said Central Market CBD Board Member David Fariello, who serves as the Division Director of the Citywide Case Management and Community Focus Center. The social service center provides psychiatric emergency and psychosocial rehabilitation services at 982 Mission Street.
“The new Community Guides have been specially trained to constructively engage and help connect individuals on the street in need to area social service providers,” Fariello said.
The Community Guides Program will leverage experience, relationships and resources with social service providers to help increase access to care and identify potential long-term solutions to individuals in need. The Community Guides Team will continue to receive training throughout the duration of the program.
“In many respects, the Central Market CBD is inventing the Community Guides Program from scratch because there are few examples of a hybrid social service outreach, public safety, and visitor information service in San Francisco today,” Hurtado said. “Because this community-based effort is new to the city, the service will operate much like a pilot-program in its first year. The Central Market CBD will be making adjustments to the program based on feedback from the community, safety agencies, and social service partners. We want to continually enhance our program in order to provide the best possible service to everyone in Central Market,” Hurtado said.
The Central Market Community Guides is a community-based program in partnership with social service providers, safety agencies, and neighborhood organizations. This service is funded and provided by the Central Market Community Benefit District through a contract with MJM Management Group.
For further information:Contact Daniel Hurtado, Executive Director of the Central Market CBD, at dhurtado@central-market.org or 415.882.3088.