For the last four years, Lidia Sandoval has escorted local senior citizens to appointments and escorted kids to school, all part of San Francisco’s community-ambassador program.
On April 6, she was told that her job was being eliminated, alongside those of all community ambassadors from the Office of Civic Engagement and Immigrant Affairs.
Her last day is May 6.
In areas of the Mission District, like Marshall Elementary, a public school that has struggled for years with spillover chaos from the drug use and fencing of stolen goods near the 16th Street BART plazas, the ambassadors have come to feel critical.
They show up before the school’s security guard arrives at 10 a.m. They’ve distributed safety information during immigration scares.
They file 311 requests to clean up the surrounding streets, and ask people who are drinking, using drugs, or otherwise behaving disruptively around the school to move along. They show up at the start and end of the day to help kids feel safe walking to or from the building.
On a recent rainy Monday, an ambassador carrying an umbrella walked children from their parents’ cars into the school.
“They know kids by name. They’ll give a kid a hug when they come out of the car,” said Elaine Ellis, a social worker at Marshall Elementary. “We trust them.”
The abrupt layoffs are a U-turn for the Office of Civic Engagement and Immigrant Affairs, which runs the ambassador program. City officials decided last year to end the program as part of the city budget process, but the ambassadors had been told that they would stay on until their contracts expired.
Two operational staffers and 14 ambassadors will be losing their jobs. Out of these, three had job agreements with the city until the end of 2026, nine that ended in 2027 and four until 2028.
Mayor Daniel Lurie promised in February to add more ambassadors (as well as more police foot patrols) in the area near 16th and Mission streets.
When asked how laying off the area’s current crew of ambassadors factored into promises to expand the program, and if any new personnel or programs would replace those laid off, the mayor’s office referred Mission Local to the city administrator’s office for comment.
A request sent to the city administrator’s office was met with a formal statement from the city’s Office of Civic Engagement and Immigrant Affairs.
The statement did not answer any of the questions on the list, but did state that the city is “working with ambassadors on ensuring they are prepared for their next opportunity, including connecting them to potential employers.”
It appears the city may be moving toward subcontracting ambassadors. In July 2025, Ahsing Solutions, a private firm, was contracted by the city to do similar work around the 16th Street BART plazas.
In December 2025, the city announced a $21 million budget allocation to five nonprofits to hire “roaming ambassadors” that would be deployed across more territory throughout the city.
“I truly feel like it was a bait-and-switch,” said one ambassador, who said that their layoff notice provided no explanation as to why they were being let go with months remaining on their contract.
“I feel like I’ve wasted the last couple of years because there’s no way I can, with this job experience, find something equivalent that will pay me at least as much, if not more, or give me the same kind of benefits.”
The ambassadors earn between $26.27 and $29.29 an hour, plus benefits.
The union representing the ambassadors, SEIU 1021, confirmed the layoffs, and said the ambassadors they had been in contact with had not received any offers to be reassigned.
“SEIU 1021 stands firmly opposed to the unethical and, in our view, illegal outsourcing of city work to private organizations that pay workers less to perform similar work,” read a statement from the union.
The statement added that the union had documented several other layoff and reassignment actions that it said violate employment law regarding contractors hired to work for the city.
SEIU 1021 is, the statement added, filing unfair labor practice charges with the California Public Employment Relations Board.
Currently, community ambassadors are divided into three teams: Mid-Market/Tenderloin, Bayview and the Mission. The Mission team was formed in 2014 and began assisting Marshall Elementary in 2021. In August of 2025, community ambassador teams working in Chinatown, the Sunset and parts of District 5 ceased operations.
The program cost $2.03 million this fiscal year, including salaries, benefits and equipment, said Jorge Rivas, the executive director of the Office of Civic Engagement and Immigrant Affairs.
The Mission’s ambassadors also provide support at food banks across the neighborhood and a safety presence at the Art Youth Exchange Program, the Boys and Girls Club, and at Ladies Night at the Mission Neighborhood Resource Center.
They also escort seniors and people with disabilities who need assistance running errands or going to appointments.
For Carmen Garcia, who picks up her two grandkids every day at Marshall, the ambassadors’ presence was always pleasant.
“They’re so nice and kind. They say hi to you and they know, and take care of, all the children,” Garcia said in Spanish.
For Sandoval, saying goodbye to the children at Marshall will be difficult.
“The kids’ hugs. That’s what I’m gonna miss the most. You can’t replace that.”
I really felt safer when they were around.
They were good people and we will be worse off without them.
I’d like to see zero tolerance for the thieves, drug dealers etc 16/Mission. With these folks gone we really don’t need ‘Ambasadors’.
Since Fielder is MIA, and we have no one looking out for the neighborhood we need the Mayor Lurie to step-up police to arrest the druggies & thieves to make sure regular people are safe. We could do with cutting any non-profits that act like junky hot spots attracting unsavory characters at one of the busiest public transportation intersections.
Why continue employing ambassadors who are part of the community when we can just hire NEW ones at 20% less, from another company we’re already using? People are fungible, relationships don’t matter, it’s just a line item on a budget. /s
In some areas , Ambassadors are helpful
Not sure who decides where they are placed?
Sounds like around this area they were helpful
Other areas , like Lower Polk have never had even one Ambassador to help
There has and continues to be an unfair and equitable distribution of these persons
Also urban alchemy appears to be better at training and helping then Glide ?
Why after the hastings law school lawsuit , the always are plenty of ambassadors there ?
Kids need to be safe as do all of us .
Hopefully the area you are reporting on gets permission to keep the ambassadors
Please report on why Lower Polk has never even had one Ambassador ? That area is a drug contaimment zone
Everyday dealers and addicts are there
District 5
Please explain the discrepency .
Taxpayers are contributing but getting nothing in the Lower polk area
At least the area you reported on has had ambassadors
I think the city needs to explain their distribution and usage of ambassadors
All at a time when D9 literally has a big fat ZERO for representation.If Jackie Fielder Really cared about helping latino and indigenous school kids in her district she’d resign and let someone do the work that’s so desperately needed in our neighborhoods.
Selfish Much?
Will miss the ambassadors! They need to be hired by the new company .
That said it has been DIRE here living near the construction site !
The Guzman construction site company, their bosses MEDA and Mission housing who are the owners of the so called Marvel.
They all at a meeting at the Marshall elementary school, when parents and faculty asked about providing 24/7 security for the adjacent Capp and Adair streets surrounding the large construction site , said they won’t provide any. There is a guard inside the construction site but if standing outside watches the circus and that’s it. Routinely there are extreme situations where Fentynal tourists have taken over these blocks including outside the school. Their drug dealers are right over on Mission BART plaza. The police and 311 need to be routinely called. Lots of debris feces filth rats.
Check out Instagram @missioncarnival
for a small sample of the shenanigans. Shame on the City mayor’s office, the police and the nonprofit project managers sponsors . Tomorrow is a rah rah ground breaking event at the construction site -50 Capp- the streets will be cleaned up and all the drug tourism will be moved out of site for the media.
Sounds like they are doing a job that police should do. I wonder if this whole department was created in the misguided defund-the-police movement.
Transparent California shows most recent pay from 2024 being $87k. I did see them in mission every now and then, always wandering around in groups of 3. I dont see this outreach being worth $260k per group per year. Pretty much as useful as all those fake homeless nonprofits. With all the budget issues in the city it’s definitely good idea to remove this services.
Ambassadors? Maybe nice to have, but this doesn’t seem like a core city function.
And the “Office of Civic Engagement and Immigrant Affairs”– this also doesn’t sound like a department that needs to exist in the city. Back to basics.
Yeah why I the hell would a city with tens of thousands of immigrants and refugees consider it a core operation to foster their involvement in civic life and create meaningful opportunities for them to participate in their community while earning a modest living?
Surely we can just hire a bunch of $200k+ a year cops to do a worse job than the ambassadors.
When money is tight, it’s always the best choice to get more of the super expensive things and do away with the much lower cost ones. That’s totally how you balance a budget and create an equitable economy.
Yes, good points, Dan. I see such ambassadors as more of a volunteer function, rather like the Guardian Angels (AKA the red berets) in NYC.
People need to be paid. Are you going to volunteer?
Many important civic functions can be satisfied via volunteers, charities, foundations, trusts, non-profits and churches.
> Ambassadors? Maybe nice to have, but this doesn’t seem like a core city function.
Core city functions being?
Ambassadors are a wonderful community addition. Sad to see them go.
However, the Mission needs a Vice Squad to clean up all the filth thats happening RIGHT IN FRONT OF SFPD MISSION STATION. Lazy ass cops are AFRAID to leave the station and the public is left to deal with all their lawlessness and negligence!!! Im traumatized by the craziness from trying to catch a bus on Mission St. 2 days ago. Horrible and disturbing conditions in broad daylight.
SFPD is the REAL problem, never present never accountable.