LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — On Tuesday morning city leaders announced the return of Little Rock ambassadors that will help clean up the downtown area and help make it safer for both locals and tourists.
"The long-term sustainability of any growing and vibrant city like Little Rock is its ability to be clean and safe," said Mayor Frank Scott Jr.
Mayor Scott said the impact of having these ambassadors become the face of the capital city will not only help boost tourism but also revenue.
"We're seeing close to half a billion dollars right here in downtown Little Rock and this allows and shows the partnership, the ability to continue to promote what's going on in our city. They'll be embracing customers to ensure that they continue to come downtown but they spend more money downtown and the more money [spent] downtown the more things we can get done," he added.
According to Gabe Holmstrom, the Executive Director for the Downtown Little Rock Partnership, the city partnered with an organization called Block by Block to make this program happen.
"This is one of the reasons why we're really excited to partner with Block by Block as they came to our capital city to implement this program. Block by Block works in over 140 cities across North America. They've been in this line of work for over 30 years, they are the market leader in this and they have the experience and know how to deal with these problems," Holmstorm said.
He said as the population of Arkansas continues to grow when people come and visit the city's capital, the ambassador's job will be to help increase tourism so that visitors would want to return and bring others with them.
"We want our visitors to feel welcome but we also want our residents to feel welcome and you know, the biggest thing that they're going to be doing is just walking around and being pleasant and saying hi to folks as if they need directions. A lot of times these people become very good photographers, because they're always, you know, grabbing someone's phone and taking a picture of them when you know, there's a group out on the street," Holmstorm added.
Jake White, the project manager for Block by Block who will be managing the downtown Little Rock ambassadors explained how the carefully selected group consists of eight members.
"These guys are absolutely phenomenal you know, we interviewed over about 80 people for this position and these are the folks that we selected because they have such a commitment to hospitality. And such a commitment to making downtown Little Rock a better place," he added.
White also said their business has implemented this program all over the country and his workers understand the difference that it makes in the community.
"These folks that come in in the morning, they come in in the evening, they truly want to get in here and do a great job. It's clear with all of them, that they don't want to just come in and do the work. They want to come in and be proud of the work they did when their shift is over and know that they make downtown Little Rock a better place. I'm super proud of this group couldn't be more proud of these guys," he said.
Business owners like Jack Sundell the co-owner of Root Cafe explained how this will help them with unhoused people or those who suffer from mental health problems and substance abuse.
"You know as a business owner instead of calling the police, we can call an ambassador, and a lot of times, this is someone who works in the same neighborhood day after day. You know, they may have an established relationship with some of the folks who are on the street, and it can be a much better solution.," Sundell said. "They can help connect them with resources that they might need, and then also deflect them from coming into the business and bothering customers."
Another reason why Sundell is in support of the return of the ambassador program is that it puts customer service on a larger scale.
"You can easily pick your customer service and an individual business, but it's a little harder to picture customer service for a city. But these are really the people who will be walking around the streets of downtown Little Rock, and providing a great first impression of our city," Sundell described.
To learn more about the program, please click here.