San Francisco is expanding a street ambassador program credited with cutting the number of 911 calls in half. The public safety program will launch at Powell Street, one of the city’s busiest transit hubs, thanks to nearly $5 million in private funding from the Downtown Development Corporation, the city said Wednesday.
Mayor Daniel Lurie said the expansion builds on measurable results from the Market Street Safe Corridor program, which he described as central to the downtown recovery.
“Public safety is the foundation for San Francisco’s recovery, and it will always be my north star as mayor,” Lurie said, speaking at the Powell Street cable-car turnaround. “Downtown is coming back, and we’re going to make sure that it is stronger than it’s ever been.”
The nonprofit DDC will fund both the Powell Street expansion and the continuation of its Homeless Engagement Assistance Response Team, or HEART, programs in Union Square and Yerba Buena, which had been set to expire at the end of March. DDC CEO Shola Olatoye said the organization has raised more than $60 million since launching less than a year ago.
Since the ambassador program launched at the Embarcadero and Montgomery BART stations in July and September, respectively, safety-related 911 calls have dropped by 53%, San Francisco Police Department response times have fallen 58%, and San Francisco Fire Department response times have decreased by 23%, according to Olatoye. More than 82% of commuters reported feeling safer.
“We’re using data to help us drive what works and keep our streets safe and clean,” Olatoye said.
Robbie Silver, president and CEO of the Downtown SF Partnership, said the program was launched in less than two weeks following a call to action from City Hall in July. Silver credited seed funding from Amazon, Google, and Visa for making the launch possible.
Crime is down 40% in Union Square and the Financial District, and San Francisco is leading major U.S. cities in return-to-office rates, Lurie said.
Marisa Rodriguez, CEO of the Union Square Alliance, said the district had more than 150,000 visitors last weekend for a free tulip giveaway (opens in new tab) — three times as many who attended the same event a year ago — and said improved safety measures were a key motivator.
“We must continue to build this confidence that we’re feeling,” Rodriguez said. “It’s that confidence that’s continuing to bring business back to San Francisco.”
Scott Rowitz, executive director of the Yerba Buena Partnership, pointed to rising ground-floor leasing and increased foot traffic as signs that the program is producing tangible economic results. Rowitz said a survey of Yerba Buena constituents found that 70% of respondents feel safer in the neighborhood than they did a year ago. Foot traffic on one street in the district is up 25% year over year, he added.
Across the downtown corridor in 2025, ambassadors conducted more than 54,000 safety checks, responded to 150 emergency calls, and filed more than 1,300 service requests, according to Olatoye.
Olatoye said the DDC is in conversations with property owners around the cable-car turnaround regarding a broad overhaul of the Powell Street streetscape, with city approvals anticipated later this year.