- Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Expands Reliance On Downtown Ambassador Team, Assigning Ambassadors More Safety And Homeless Outreach Work. Pigeon605 magazine reports on the city’s increasing reliance on the downtown ambassador team to handle more responsibilities around the city, and the results are already showing in the latest city data: in the third quarter of the year, the ambassador team has already responded to nearly 30% more calls for service than during all of 2025. Police Sgt. Jason Montgomery explained that the ambassadors are an increasingly important part of the public safety infrastructure of the city: “They’re a set of human eyes and ears… when something needs attention downtown — a cleanup, a safety concern, a visitor looking for directions or someone who might need help getting connected to services” the ambassadors are there to respond.
James Krueger, the chair of the downtown group that oversees the ambassador team, told the magazine that the team has received additional training and is now “more ingrained” into the city so that now “in place of police being the only option, ambassadors are trained to deal with the transient population in nonemergency situations… they are the boots on the ground… this program has been wildly successful and has exceeded any expectations we’ve had.”
- In Atlanta, Ambassador Team Celebrates 30 Years Of Service And Expanded Role That Combines Safety, Cleaning, And Homeless Outreach. For WSBTV, Sabrina Castro reports on the city’s celebration of the anniversary of the team’s launch “three decades after the [ambassadors] first hit the streets around the 1996 Olympics.” Now, the unit, which the city has expanded into three discrete divisions, “focused on keeping Downtown Atlanta clean, safe and welcoming.” Safety Ambassadors “greet visitors, residents and workers, provide directions… patrol parking areas” and help with public safety calls for service; Clean Ambassadors “pick up trash, remove graffiti [and] pressure wash public spaces.” While Outreach Ambassadors work with people experiencing homelessness, “connecting them with resources, case management, [transportation, and] family reunification and housing placements.”
- In Iowa City, Downtown Ambassadors Add Cargo Bikes To Cover More Ground And Respond Faster. The Corridor Business Journal reports on the city’s Downtown Ambassadors team’s funding expansion that the city is investing into cargo bikes designed to help “Ambassadors cover more ground while maintaining the program’s welcoming, human-centered presence downtown.” Launched in 2024, the program’s ambassadors work to “keep the downtown district clean and welcoming,” traveling more than 500 miles each month across the downtown area while carrying pressure washers, sanitizing equipment and other supplies. Demand for ambassadors “and the work they do has risen,” and Place Management Director Ian Dunbar said the cargo bikes will help the team “reach more of the district [and] respond faster to requests.”
