{"id":5404,"date":"2025-03-07T19:13:16","date_gmt":"2025-03-07T19:13:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.blockbyblock.com\/?p=5404"},"modified":"2025-03-12T20:25:55","modified_gmt":"2025-03-12T20:25:55","slug":"street-ambassadors-program-coming-to-eau-claire-with-hopes-of-better-connection-with-downtowns-homeless","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.blockbyblock.com\/news\/street-ambassadors-program-coming-to-eau-claire-with-hopes-of-better-connection-with-downtowns-homeless\/","title":{"rendered":"ARPA Funds Help Bring Street Ambassadors Program to Downtown E.C."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This article was originally shared on VolumeOne<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By\u00a0McKenna Scherer<\/a> | February 28, 2025<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beginning March 1, program staff will assist homeless individuals find available services, keep public areas clean, more in downtown Eau Claire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thanks to one-time funding from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), the City of Eau Claire will launch its Street Ambassadors program this spring. Easily identified, uniformed staff will be seen working downtown beginning Saturday, March 1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last fall, City Council narrowed down a number of proposals for the new program, and ultimately decided to contract with Block by Block. The company got its start in downtown Louisville in 1995 and has since expanded to service communities nationwide, including neighboring cities like the Twin Cities, Rochester, and Milwaukee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Block by Block offers services in five categories:\u00a0Hospitality and Safety Services<\/a>,\u00a0Cleaning<\/a>,\u00a0Outreach<\/a>,\u00a0Landscaping and Grounds Maintenance<\/a>, and\u00a0Transit<\/a>. In its custom plan for Eau Claire, it appears program staff will largely be working on safety, cleanliness, and customer service in the downtown area. This support could reduce the number of calls and requests currently handled by emergency services and other city departments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Neighborhood Services Manager Billie Hufford said the program \u2013 which she saw in action during a visit to Milwaukee \u2013 will work to build relationships with all downtown stakeholders. \u201c(The program\u2019s staff) will engage with people experiencing homelessness to help ensure individual are aware of services, help clean public spaces, provide direction to residents and visitors as needed, and assist businesses when situations arise that are not necessarily ordinance violations,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There will be a team of four working as street Ambassadors, including Operations Manager and longtime local Stephney Brick. The Block by Block team said their training includes education around mental health and de-escalation, as well as basic cleaning services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOutcomes vary in program types,\u201d the Block by Block team said, pointing to things like less trash being left in public spaces to assisting homeless individuals sign into a shelter, find a meal, or get to appointments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the city has contracted Block by Block for these services, Brick will be responsible for operational oversight and quality assurance,\u00a0as described<\/a>\u00a0on the Block by Block website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The program, funded through the end of 2026 through the allocated $200,000 in ARPA funds, will seek feedback in the future from businesses, residents, and visitors about how the program has impacted their experience in Downtown Eau Claire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Learn more about Block by Block at\u00a0blockbyblock.com<\/a>. Learn more about the City of Eau Claire’s\u00a0homelessness and housing efforts<\/a>\u00a0and more at\u00a0www.eauclairewi\/gov<\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This article was originally shared on VolumeOne By\u00a0McKenna Scherer | February 28, 2025 Beginning March 1, program staff will assist homeless individuals find available services, keep public areas clean, more in downtown Eau Claire. Thanks to one-time funding from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), the City of Eau Claire will launch its Street Ambassadors …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5404","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.blockbyblock.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5404","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.blockbyblock.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.blockbyblock.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blockbyblock.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blockbyblock.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5404"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.blockbyblock.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5404\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5440,"href":"https:\/\/www.blockbyblock.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5404\/revisions\/5440"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.blockbyblock.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5404"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blockbyblock.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5404"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blockbyblock.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5404"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}