CMCBD News

Community Guides help give a hand up

03/19/2008 12:00am

After more than a month of training, Central Market Community Guides are now on the street five days a week serving downtown San Francisco's Central Market neighborhood.

Acting as "eyes and ears" for the Central Market neighborhood, the Community Guides provide social service outreach to homeless individuals, hospitality service to tourists, and help support police by reporting crime and opening the line of communication between safety agencies and the people they serve in Central Market.

Since its official launch in February, the Community Guides have offered its services to individuals on the street in Central Market who are in need of social service assistance. The Community Guides have reported many positive experiences that took place in the past month.


• Man feels he owes his life to Community Guides

The Community Guides encountered an intoxicated homeless man unconscious at Sixth and Jessie Streets. The Guides addressed him and asked if he needed assistance. They connected the man with the City's Homeless Outreach Team (HOT), who helped him get his life back together. The Community Guides have since seen him sober and with a positive attitude, new clothes and a room of his own. He feels he owes his life to the Community Guides and is always asking about how he can volunteer. Now, he often refers others to the HOT Team office. He was in prison for 27 years and is ecstatic about the Community Guides, letting them know that he is now making new sober friends.


• Guides break through language barrier to help woman find shelter

SF Environment at 11 Grove Street called the Central Market Dispatch regarding a person who was unconscious in their doorway. The Guides woke the woman up, but were unable to communicate with her because she could only speak Spanish. Dispatch contacted the HOT Team, and a Spanish-speaking member of the team was sent within minutes. The woman agreed to accept the services offered. She now has a place in a shelter thanks to the Community Guides and the HOT Team partnership.


• Guides help unite homeless man with brother outside of state

The Community Guides encountered a man on Stevenson Street who had been homeless for 10 years. The Community Guides learned that he wanted to stay with his brother, who lived out of state, but had no idea how to get there. He has been carrying his brother’s phone number in his wallet all this time. The Dispatch called the number and spoke to his brother who confirmed he was willing to take him in. The Community Guides referred him to the Homeward Bound Program - a San Francisco City program designed to unite homeless persons with an established, permanent support system of loved ones by providing transportation at no cost to individuals desiring to return to family and friends. Dispatch advised the brother that Homeward Bound would contact him and advised him to wait for their call. Dispatch later confirmed with Homeward Bound that the man was on a bus to be reunited with his brother.


Community Guides is a community-based program in partnership with social service providers, safety agencies, and neighborhood organizations. This service is managed by the Central Market CBD and MJM Management Group.