CMCBD News

Meet Maurice, Community Guide

04/14/2008 12:00am

Meet Maurice, Central Market Community Guide

Helping people is at the heart of the Central Market Community Benefit District’s Community Guide Program, whether it involves helping neighborhood residents and workers feel safe, providing social service outreach to homeless individuals, or helping tourists find their way around downtown San Francisco’s Central Market district.

Helping to support this service is Community Guide Maurice, who has been with the program since its inception in February.

“What I enjoy the most about serving as a Community Guide is helping people in the community, from people who live and work here to those who are homeless on our streets,” says Maurice. “I like interacting with the merchants as well,” he says.

Maurice and the Community Guides Program staff were trained a month prior to the launch of the program in social service outreach, crime prevention, and customer service. The Community Guides can often been seen providing social service outreach in the streets and alleyways of the Central Market neighborhood.

“What I bring to this position is the experience and perspective that comes from having lived in the person’s shoes, the person on the street who is in need of help, and understanding what they are going through. I want to be of service to the community and to those on the street, to motivate them to always do better in their lives,” Maurice says.

When asked what he finds to be the most challenging aspect of being a Community Guide, Maurice says he finds it difficult to see someone who is living on the street turn away from services that are available to her or him. “Offering someone services, and seeing them reject help and choosing to live their lives on the street can be a hard thing to experience,” Maurice says.

Seeing someone on the street accept services, address any problems related to drugs or alcohol addiction, and turn their lives around is perhaps the most gratifying aspect of his job he says.

“A lot of the services that we recommend to those on the street I have used in my past,” Maurice says.

Prior to joining the Community Guides Program, Maurice worked at the Providence Foundation of San Francisco, a non-profit Christian educational organization, as an Assistant Manager/Case Manager for seven years. While at the Providence Foundation, Maurice provided crisis intervention, counseling, and conflict resolution for his clients and developed relationships with service provides in order to best serve the needs of his clients. Maurice has also served as a supervisor at MSC South Homeless Shelter in San Francisco.

Maurice says he enjoys working in the Central Market neighborhood because of the diversity of the people, the opportunities that exist in improving the conditions of the neighborhood, and recognizing and receiving the community’s support for the work of the Community Guides.

So what does it take to do his job well?

“Being a good communicator, being patience, insightful, resourceful, and knowing how to assess each situation differently,” he says.

Aside from being a Community Guide, Maurice is also a father and a grandfather. He has a son (24), daughter (26), and grandson (2).

When he is not in uniform and helping to meet the needs of the Central Market neighborhood, Maurice enjoys fishing in the bay, reading, and watching the Discovery Channel, History Channel, and National Geographic programs.

Maurice was born and raised in San Francisco.

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The Central Market Community Guide Program operates between the hours of 9am to 6pm, Monday through Friday. Call the Central Market Dispatch and Call Center at 415.543.5223 for non-emergency safety, social service outreach, and cleaning and maintenance issues in the public realm of Central Market. Visit here to learn more.