Minneapolis is expanding its use of community safety ambassadors in May to south Minneapolis near the Powderhorn Park neighborhood to improve safety and build trust in the community.
The Community Safety Ambassador is a pilot program in which ambassadors walk the streets and escort people between places to make them feel safer. They also help local businesses when asked and inform people of available social services. The ambassadors will be dispatched from the Lake Street Safety Center and the South Minneapolis Community Safety Center.
The ambassadors will also use de-escalation techniques, give Narcan during drug overdoses and apply CPR during medical emergencies, Amanda Harrington, the director of community safety design and implementation, said.
Council Member Jason Chavez (Ward 9) said he and Minneapolis City Council President Elliott Payne (Ward 1) were inspired by the community safety ambassadors in downtown Minneapolis.
“This program already exists in downtown Minneapolis and we know that it is an effective program that keeps communities safe, it keeps our area clean and it helps people get around,” Chavez said. “We thought that if downtown could have access to these services, the rest of our cultural districts could too.”
Chavez said the program is part of a larger push for a comprehensive approach to safety in the city. He added that increasing safety ambassadors throughout the city will ease the burden placed on local police.
“There are many staffing challenges within the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD), and I don’t believe every response requires the police department’s response,” Chavez said. “I believe in a comprehensive approach to safety, and I believe this program will help address some of those concerns.”
Minneapolis lists the East Lake Street and Franklin Avenue East areas, where these ambassadors will patrol, as cultural districts with large minority and immigrant communities.
Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe Urban Office Director Wahbon Spears, the chair of the Public Safety Committee for the Metropolitan Urban Indian Directors, said the program will make the community safer while helping out the MPD.
“This effort is not just about improving relationships with law enforcement — it’s about ensuring that everyone in our community feels safe and secure in their daily lives,” Spears said in a statement. “We are hopeful that the safety ambassadors can help deter violence, reducing the need for police intervention in the first place. The success of this program will depend on choosing people from the community — individuals who are recognizable, trustworthy and who inspire residents to live life in a good way.”
Once the program starts in May, the neighborhood safety department will measure the effectiveness of the program by checking crime data and feedback from residents, Harrington said.
The nonprofit group Metro Youth Diversion Center was selected to run the ambassador program in the area. The group declined to comment about their plans as their contract with the city is still being finalized.
Chavez said he is confident growing the ambassador program will bring residents in his ward a sense of community and safety.
“I think that with these programs in place, we are gonna have a more comprehensive approach to safety and that is gonna be a big benefit to residents in our city,” Chavez said.
