Downtown Reno Partnership ambassadors shifting gears to protect the city’s most vulnerable
When Gov. Steve Sisolak ordered all non-essential businesses to close, the Reno Police Department officially deemed our Ambassadors essential in order to help them keep downtown safe, clean and managed. For the last 10 days, our ambassadors have shifted gears entirely to educating and working with the unsheltered people in downtown Reno. The Volunteers of America, in partnership with the City of Reno, converted the Downtown Reno Event Center into an emergency shelter in order to create 6-foot distance between people and leverage the space for more beds and bathrooms.
Our ambassadors are working with the VOA to help manage the more than 400 people using the 118,000-square-foot venue floor.
The City of Reno dropped a palette of water off at the Reno Event Center to make sure the unsheltered population stays hydrated.
The ambassadors also took some cues from grocery stores and chalked Xs six-feet apart on the ground in front of the event center. This helped create a line leading into the emergency shelter that was orderly and a bit safer.
We also received cloth masks from Joseph Garton and his group of stitchers to protect people from the ambassadors and vice versa. Any ambassadors with a cough will be wearing them. The ambassadors already wear latex gloves every day.
Finally, we are renting a car for two weeks so that ambassadors can keep an eye on closed businesses. This is in addition to existing Reno Police patrols.
