by Joao Bicalho
Staff Writer
Downtown Vision Inc. Executive Director Terry Lorince admits keeping a full complement of Downtown Ambassadors can be tough. It’s blazing hot in the summer, it can be cold in the winter, there’s a ton of walking and you have to be a people person. Still, the goal is to keep a team of 12 Ambassadors roving the streets of the Northbank and Southbank on any given day. In fact, the program is budgeted for 11-and-a-half Ambassadors, but with a relatively high attrition rate since the program’s inception, it can be hard to keep a dozen on the payroll.
“The numbers (of Ambassadors) vary,” said Lorince.
Ambassadors go through a three-month training period, during which they are paid and taught the ins and outs of hospitality and every nook and cranny of Downtown. Some prove fit for the job, some not.
Amy Harrell, DVI’s director of improvement district services, said that hospitality is a must, but Ambassadors must also be self-confident to get the position,
“We hire for personality, you can always train the rest,” said Harrell, who understands it takes someone special to do this kind of job.
On a daily basis, Ambassadors may run into City Council members, Downtown business people and residents, tourists, the homeless and even the mayor.
“They have to talk to all kinds of people,” said Harrell.
The process to hire an Ambassador is thorough. Candidates go through screening, a background check, a drug test and an interview as well, said Harrell.
The program focuses primarily on hospitality and cleanliness, she said.
Due to a liability policy with insurance companies, the Ambassadors are no longer allowed to pick up trash on the streets. Today, that duty is handled by a volunteer group from Catholic Charities.
The Ambassadors have regular deployments with four different beats, said Harrell. There are two shifts — one in the morning and one in the afternoon and evening — seven days a week.
“That covers all the 90 blocks of the Downtown Improvement District,” said Harrell, who places the Ambassadors where there is a high flow of pedestrians.
Ambassadors go where they are needed. Whenever there is anything that draws a crowd, they will be there, she said, within a block from an event and will stand by and they will help them in any way they need.
“They are out on the streets come rain or come shine,” said Harrell, who added that the beat of an Ambassador can cover four miles a day.
An Ambassador’s job requires more than diplomacy. They provide maps, directions, help pedestrians locate a business or service, escort pedestrians to their destinations, call for medical assistance and also discourage nuisance behavior. Safety is one of the main directives for Ambassadors out on the streets.
“In addition to hospitality, we work closely with the Sheriff’s Office,” said Harrell, who added that part of the Ambassadors’ routine is to discourage nuisance behavior Downtown.
”If they (Ambassadors) have no response, they will call the Sheriff’s Office,” said Harrell.
Harrell said, if possible, she would have 50 Ambassadors because they can make that much of a difference. A lot of cities in the nation have Ambassadors working in central areas, but the Ambassadors here make a difference for one reason only.
“They’re making it fit Jacksonville,” said Harrell.
Lydia Cobbert works as an Ambassador Downtown. Cobbert enjoys the hospitality aspect of her job and the feedback from people she helps.
“They are always appreciative,” said Cobbert.
Cobbert remembers a disabled senior citizen, moving with a walker, who had misplaced her vehicle and could not locate it. Cobbert assisted her not only by locating her car but also escorting her back to her vehicle.
“She was overwhelmed,” said Cobbert.
Mike O’Brien, who is also an Ambassador, enjoys the leisure aspect of his job.
“I have more freedom than working in an office,” said O’Brien, who likes the fact he can move around outside in any direction he may choose.
O’Brien likes to think that his daily duties require him to be a fast-thinking mediator whose main job is to help out people by offering viable solutions.
“You must think of yourself as a problem solver,” said O’Brien.
He noticed that most of the negative feedback he gets is over situations that are out of his control. When people are not accepted in a shelter because of time or vacancy issues, for instance, he hears it when he comes across them on the streets, he said.
“It’s out of our hands,” said O’Brien.
He recognizes that much of the work he does as an Ambassador is teamwork oriented. He once helped some other Ambassadors duct-tape a broken back windshield of a car with tarp in the middle of a stormy afternoon.
“I did supply the garbage bag,” said O’Brien.
Lorince knows she faces another challenge on the streets.
“We have to find good people that fit for the job,” said Lorince. “And the job is a good fit for them.”
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