News

Visit Knoxville launching K-Town Connect Ambassador Program for downtown area

Written by WBIT Staff

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Visit Knoxville announced a new program that would place ambassadors in areas across the city starting Friday.

It is called “K-Town Connect” and ambassadors will be identifiable by light-green clothing showing the program’s brand. These ambassadors are meant to ensure both visitors and locals enjoy spending time in the downtown area. They will perform a variety of roles:

• Hospitality and Information: Ambassadors will greet pedestrians and ask if they need help finding specific locations. They will give information on historic sites, restaurants, public transportation and other topics. They will also be tasked with helping people with basic functions like using a parking meter, repairing flat tires, escorting employees to parking garages and even opening doors. Officials said this is meant to offset a “potentially negative experience with a positive interaction.”
• Give a Visible Presence: The ambassadors will be tasked with roaming the area and providing a visible, accessible, outgoing and inviting presence. They are meant to provide an attitude of friendly professionalism and customer service. Officials also said they will also be strategically placed as needed to address issues at specific times of the day, on certain days of the week.
• Address Quality of Life Issues: They will be trained to discourage solicitation and report crimes. They will also inform Visit Knoxville about the area and will be tasked with teaching people about ordinance violations. The City of Knoxville has policies against panhandling and solicitation during specific times of the day and at certain places.
• Contact Property and Business Owners: Ambassadors will also work directly with property and business owners, managers and security workers to create a network exchanging information about downtown safety.
  All ambassadors will also be trained in “situational protocol,” meant to teach them how to handle tense situations in a “firm, yet courteous, manner.” Ambassadors in the K-Town Connect program will also manage social service outreach for unhoused people or who appear to be in need of mental or physical health services.

Ambassadors will remove litter and debris from streets and sidewalks. They will also remove stickers and handbills from utility poles, mailboxes, courier boxes, newspaper boxes, parking meters and other fixtures. Materials are often placed on those fixtures for a variety of services, as well as political campaigns.

“I am excited to get these new ambassadors on our city streets,” Knoxville Mayor Indya Kincannon said. “This is another important step in helping to keep our downtown welcoming, safe, and accessible for residents and visitors.”

The program will run in most of the downtown area, including areas around the Old City and The Sunsphere. Visit Knoxville partnered with Block by Block to develop the program. It is a company that works with cities across the U.S., including Chattanooga and Nashville, to provide similar services.

Logo for K-Town Connect Ambassador Services

Downtown Louisville Ambassadors spread Valentine’s Day kindness

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Special Valentine’s Day surprises were handed out around downtown Monday.

Ambassadors with the Louisville Downtown Partnership were on the streets sharing all the love in celebration of Valentine’s Day all with the help of some sweet treats.

The Downtown Partnership wanted to make sure everyone downtown was feeling the love. They handed out raffle tickets for $50 worth of restaurant food at a downtown business. They also handed out chocolate and candy.

Part of ongoing efforts to revitalize downtown, the ambassadors work to better the area by picking up trash or planting new greenery.

There are 16 ambassadors on the streets of downtown daily.

Check out the full article and video showing how the Ambassadors spread love during Valentine’s Day .

Photos by Precision Focus Photography

What it’s like to work for Operation Downtown

Written by: Greater Des Moines Partnership

DES MOINES – Maybe you’ve noticed in Downtown Des Moines (DSM) those helpful workers in lime green polo shirts, working to keep downtown safe, clean and beautiful. If not, you’ve surely noticed the beautiful flowers lining downtown streets, the sidewalk maintenance and supportive service to hose around the city. These workers are our Operation Downtown Ambassadors, and they play a pivotal role in maintaining downtown, both in normal times and during busy (say, Saturdays throughout the summer from 7 a.m. until Noon!) or difficult times, like the past 23 months since the COVID-19 pandemic emerged.

Two of those ambassadors recently shared about their experiences as Operation Downtown Ambassadors. Julie Skalberg and Sean Harrington have worked for Operation Downtown for four years and one-and-a-half years, respectively, and have a lot to say about downtown.

Operation Downtown Ambassador Q+A

How did you first learn about Operation Downtown Ambassadors?

Skalberg found the job on Indeed when she moved to Des Moines. While visiting her brother, she saw some people in the Historic East Village working with Operation Downtown. When she moved to the area, she thought she might like to do that, too, and help give back to the community. She loves that the job is outside. For Harrington, who had led a troubled life prior to his work with Operation Downtown, took the job to help change his life. Since he became employed, he has become part of the Operation Downtown family. Both say the biggest draw is the tight-knit group at the organization. Skalberg said she loves coming to work because of the appreciation felt from the top down.

What does a normal day look like for you?

Harrington said that each day is different. Every morning you get assigned with a task and a zone to work in. From power washing in front of businesses to taking care of the skywalks, there are many ways they help the Downtown DSM community stay safe and beautiful. Skalberg said that what’s fulfilling is that Operation Downtown employees also assist visitors with directions, taking photos for families and friends where they are downtown and just helping in any way they can. People take the time to thank employees and they can feel they are making a difference to downtown.

What is your favorite part of downtown?

Harrington’s favorite things about downtown are the Downtown Farmers’ Market and other festivals. Skalberg said that everything downtown is unique — especially the new skatepark — and she loves being a part of all of it. When COVID hit, she said the heartbeat of the city left, and seeing that come back recently has been great.

Share a favorite ambassador memory.

Harrington recalled a lady who had come downtown and forgotten where she had parked. Operation Downtown had multiple employees looking for the car to assist her. Skalberg said there are so many fun times, but remembered one Saturday at the Market — Harrington’s first event — laughing about the busyness of all the things happening in one day. They stick together and get through the busyness with laughter.

What would you say to someone who is interested in becoming an ambassador?

Skalberg said there’s no reason not to become involved with Operation Downtown. You get to interact with the public, and that’s a lot of fun! Harrington said you walk 10-15 miles a day, and Skalberg said even so you do it with a fun group, which makes it easy to be out there. He said he gives potential employees a rundown of the great environment, number of hours, his understanding boss and how much he’s grown since he came on board at Operation Downtown.

Find more information on Operation Downtown here.

Meet the Welcome Ambassadors Who are Helping Visitors and Buffing SF’s Battered Image

Written by Kevin Truong, The San Fransisco Standard

It wasn’t hard to spot the family of tourists ascending the Powell Street Station escalator. Luggage in tow and squeezed between a busker banging on a makeshift drum set and a speaker blasting Sade’s “Smooth Operator” the group stared at their phones quizzically as they emerged into the chaos of Market Street during the holidays.

Brian DeBellevue sprang into action. Decked out in a vivid orange jacket and baseball cap—and with a smile that’s hard to miss, even behind a mask—he looked a bit like a walking traffic cone.

After a quick greeting and a self-deprecating joke, DeBellevue pointed them to their Union Square hotel.

“You get a sense pretty quickly of the people who really need you,” DeBellevue said, miming a person buried in their smartphone map spinning around to figure out which way to walk. “Sometimes people are a little off put, but most of the time they’re really thankful to have someone help them out.”

DeBellevue is one of the roughly 50 Welcome Ambassadors that have been hired to act as the front door greeters for San Francisco. They are responsible for welcoming people to the city, offering directions, taking photos, answering questions and functioning as a concierge for both visitors and residents alike.

“The primary goal is to welcome people to the city, give information and help people feel comfortable and safe in San Francisco,” said Rena Leddy, vice president of Urban Place Consulting Group, which was enlisted to help design the program. It’s managed by Louisville, K.Y.-based Block by Block, which runs about 120 programs around the country.

Paulita Elliott, director of operations at Block by Block, said the San Francisco program was unique in that ambassadors here, rather than being limited to a single main tourist district, are often assigned to multiple locations and take public transportation to travel between their postings.

Click to see a day in the life of a Welcome Ambassador !

The program formally started in November and has conducted more than 230,000 public greetings.

The Welcome Ambassador program operates 7 days a week, between the hours of 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., with ambassadors posted in key tourist areas like Fisherman’s Wharf, Union Square and the Powell St. Cable Car Turnaround.

Some of the initial hiccups in its rollout have stemmed from the lack of reliable public transit and retaining workers unprepared for the hospitality role or the physical nature of the job.

“Being outside in the Bay weather and walking 10 to 13 miles is not always what they think it is,” Elliot said.

The program is just one of several efforts to encourage more visitors to downtown and other tourist attractions. Other initiatives include staffing tourist areas with police officers, another downtown ambassador program comprised of retired police officers, and beautification projects in and around Union Square.

Mayor London Breed has positioned the effort as part of the gradual recovery of San Francisco’s struggling tourism sector and a signal of safety to both residents and tourists.

Moanna Sauleaupepetele, who was one of the program’s first hires, said community members have started to recognize the ambassadors’ presence and have taken to calling her and her colleagues “the orange people.”

The welcome ambassadors are funded through a two-year $12.5 million grant from the Office of Economic and Workforce Development to the San Francisco Tourism Improvement District, which is responsible for supporting SF Travel, the city’s tourism agency.

The ambassador’s friendly presence aims to boost to a lagging tourism industry that has traditionally been one of the main drivers of the city’s economy. San Francisco’s hotel market has had the largest fall and the slowest recovery of any major metropolitan area in the U.S.

“San Francisco was one of the highest performing before the pandemic so it had farther to fall off,” said Emmy Hise, the CoStar Group’s director of hospitality analytics for the Western U.S. “They’ve seen a huge loss in international travel and a very heavy group travel presence that hasn’t come back.”

Those macroeconomic factors have been compounded by a national media narrative that has painted a city in crisis and struggling with an overdose epidemic and street crime.

Brian DeBellevue spends his day in San Francisco’s tourist haunts sharing directions, travel tips or just a bit of conversation. | Photo by Mike Kuba

There was little evidence of that story at the Powell St. cable car turnaround on a recent Thursday morning.

The line for the city’s iconic cable cars included local tourists marveling at the relative lack of crowds downtown, long-haired Dutch headbangers in town for Metallica’s 40th anniversary concert and a visitor from India unfortunately named Kovid (“I had the name 55 years earlier,” he protested.)

Ardis Young, a Campbell resident on her first trip back to San Francisco since the pandemic, said her group was struck by the prevalence of ambassadors and street cleaning teams near tourist haunts. They provided a contrast to some of the stories around street conditions and rampant crime she and her friends had seen on the local news.

While the lack of crowds meant “a different experience,” she still relished the city’s ability “to unearth something new” and mentioned the Let’s Glow SF projection mapping display as a recent highlight.

DeBellevue worked the line like a seasoned pro, combining information about Muni’s smartphone app with bits of San Francisco trivia and teasing about this or that sports teams’ prospects.

“I like to catch people when they’re in line and get them laughing and having fun because it can get pretty defeating waiting an hour for something to go,” DeBellevue said.

The ambassadors are often confronted with the harsher realities faced by the city. On the walk between Powell Station and Union Square, DeBellevue hunched down to check on a man splayed out on a sidewalk vent.

“We do have a lot of interactions with the homeless population and we do welfare checks,” DeBellevue said. “Our job is to make sure everybody’s good, it’s not just about tourists, it’s like every person has value and is seen. Just because you’re on drugs or have whatever you got going on, it doesn’t mean you don’t have value or are not important.”

He recounted a recent experience he had helping a blind homeless man connect with services after he had received a housing voucher.

“He had this opportunity to get off the streets, so I helped him with that. I called 311, got him in touch with the correct channel and got him to the address,” DeBellevue said. “You have no idea the amount of joy that that brought him.”

Each ambassador is given an Android device used as a walkie-talkie and for data collection around community engagement. The smartphone is loaded with apps that show the schedule for tour buses and public transportation and translation software for communication with non-English speakers.

Ambassadors use their device to report data on their interactions with the public. The program’s leaders say these metrics and forthcoming surveys are key to understanding the impact of the ambassadors and measuring their success.

In his seven years in the city, DeBellevue has struggled with housing insecurity himself, relying on assistance from his mother and government relief to make ends meet. But the new role has provided him the rare opportunity to see the city anew.

“When people come here they realize even the movies don’t do it justice,” DeBellevue said. “When you see it with your own eyes, you’re like ‘wow, this place is incredible.’”

 

New outreach specialist addresses needs of unsheltered population in downtown Wilmington

By WECT Staff Published: Dec. 24, 2021 at 11:17 AM EST

WILMINGTON, N.C. (WECT) – Wilmington Downtown iNC (WDI) has hired a new street outreach specialist to help establish relationships and build trust with people living on the streets of downtown Wilmington.

As a member of the Municipal Service District (MSD) Ambassador team, Jack Morris will identify individuals willing to receive assistance and will connect them to the region’s network of social services.

“The circumstances of each person in need of help are all unique, from mental health and substance abuse issues to little to no income or ability to get into a shelter or find housing,” said President and CEO of WDI Holly Childs. “What makes this initiative so unique is that we can collaborate. We can identify who these folks are, see what their individual needs are, and see where we can help. And that’s the goal — to connect these people to the right services, or bring them to places where they are sheltered and feel safe.”

An initial survey of downtown’s unsheltered population was conducted in October by Block by Block, the MSD operations management company that runs the Ambassadors Program. The results indicated that, on average, about 30 people were living in the streets of downtown Wilmington. Many individuals reached during this three-day assessment period experienced a range of life issues and barriers to service.

Morris, a trained social worker, works in collaboration with other social service workers, police, fire and EMS to build trust and help those in need.

Within his first hour on the job, Morris connected with a homeless individual experiencing a mental health crisis and was able to get the person connected with services.

“There is no cookie-cutter solution to this,” said Morris. “The needs are all different. As the service providers and outreach providers get into this, it has to be a collaborative effort. I’m very excited to be in this role, to engage with this part of our community and see where I can make a difference. Unfortunately for some, this is the life they have chosen to live and we can only help make minor improvements to the quality of life. But every small victory goes a long way.”

Previously, Morris worked as an outreach case manager for a homeless outreach center in Pennsylvania. He is equipped to handle various conditions such as drug and alcohol addiction, as well as mental health issues, including schizophrenia and PTSD. He has earned a Crisis Intervention Certification and is a Certified Peer Specialist.

Read the full article

David Williams: Finding His Way and Paying it Forward

Read the full article here

Downtown Ambassadors hit the streets in Kalamazoo

KALAMAZOO, Mich. (WOOD) — If you’re visiting downtown Kalamazoo, you’ll notice a new team keeping things clean and ready to help you out.

The Kalamazoo Downtown Partnership launched its Downtown Ambassador program Monday.

The five ambassadors will do things like empty trash cans, sweep sidewalks and shovel snow. The full-time positions are part of a workforce development program that will provide opportunities for advancement. Their first project is a two-week push to clear leaves from streets and clean up graffiti. Moving forward, they’ll also do things like give visitors directions.

You’ll see them in blue and gray uniforms on foot, bicycles and in marked cars. They’ll be on duty as early as 7 a.m. all week and may be out until 11:30 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.

Andrew Haan, the president of the Kalamazoo Downtown Partnership, says the ambassadors can help improve the experience of visiting the area.

“It’s brand new and fresh. We’re really excited about it and feel like the downtown community is really going to notice a big difference,” Haan said.

Read the full article here

Virginia Beach rolls out new Resort-Area Ambassador program

Read the full article here!

Here’s why we love our Downtown Ambassadors, our Daytonians of the Week

Known to occasionally drop a quarter in a parking meter when the red light starts to blink, the Downtown Dayton Ambassadors are some of the most friendly faces in the Gem City.

Thank you, BID employees, for keeping downtown clean and welcoming

A letter from Mark and Susan Kolstad written to the editor of inforum.com praises Fargo’s BID!

“We wish to thank the ambassadors of BID (Business Improvement District) and its director, Chris Schlepp, for the wonderful work they do in making our downtown neighborhood a pleasant experience.”

Read the full letter here

The Best Customer Service That I’ve Ever Received In My Entire Life

From: A. Hightower

Date: Wed, Oct 28, 2020 at 12:15 PM
Subject: THE BEST CUSTOMER SERVICE THAT I’VE EVER RECEIVED I MY ENTIRE LIFE
To: @waterfrontpartnership.org

Hi, my name is Adam Hightower and on October 20, around 3:30 pm my wife and I were sitting on a bench at the Baltimore Inner Harbor, we had been in the city for a week already and it was a very trying experience until we saw a young lady in a lime green shirt coming down the pier in front of the candy store.  This young lady caught our eye because she seemed larger than life in her mannerisms.  We watched as she spoke to every single person she saw. This was a sight that i hadn’t seen since my childhood in Alabama She not only spoke to every single person, she waved to them, runners, walkers, bikers, she stopped people with dogs and gave treats to the dogs and engaged the pups; we watched as the owners smiled and talked to her, they seemed genuinely happy to see her. She spoke to the homeless people on the other benches, to moms with strollers and little ones in tow,  she took family photos of couples, groups, friends, singles, grandparents with their grandchildren, and she set up the background landscape for a more memorable experience. My wife; who absolutely hates to take pictures, said that if she came over to us to take a picture she would be out of luck. At that point I wondered if she would stop to talk to us. We sat calmly waiting our turn, hoping that she wouldn’t pass us by and as sure as it rains, she caught our eyes with a smile that was so affixed on her face that you just knew that she was born with it. She introduced herself, “Good afternoon my name is Victory”! My wife responded with an instant,” Of course it  is”! They both laughed and Victory talked about the company and what your objective is for the Waterfront and the services you provide to both visitors and residents on the waterfront. She gave us detailed information about dining, shopping, and places to go and do along the waterfront. She gave us a map for planning our next few days and for future returns to the Inner Harbor and a card, I thought, “this is extraordinary customer service”.

Then just as predicted the subject came up about taking a picture and my wife who didn’t even want to take wedding pictures adamantly refused to take a picture at all. But something happened that we never saw coming, Victory asked us if we had children and my wife said,  “yes a girl 11  Lilly and a boy 9 AJ, but what does that have to do with me taking a picture?” Victory then asked if we wanted Lilly and AJ to make us grandparents,  to be great- grandparents and so on. We both said. ” yes of course we do’. Victory went on to say that pictures are not only for those who are here with us, they are also for those who we will never meet or touch. For the generations who will never know us, but will have our pictures to remember us by that match the stories and the love that is passed down through the generations should also be the reason we take pictures. My beautiful wife of 19 years sat staring into Victory’s ocean sized smile with watered eyes and softly said, ” I never thought of it that way” . She then slid her phone out of her pocketbook and handed it to Victory as I sat dumbfounded in disbelief, my wife laid her head on my shoulder, took my hand in hers and smiled while Victory took the picture. of us sitting on the bench. She took a picture of my wife in front of the National Aquarium as the background,  in front of the amazing waterfront, in front of the World Trade Center, at the edge of the dock, in different poses, and then the two of us in front of the Constellation hugging, in a loving embrace,  my wife couldn’t stop smiling. I, on the other hand, was in complete shock.

There were countless times in our lives when my wife would refuse a picture and others couldn’t convince her to take even one picture,  Yet in under what was no more than ten minutes Victory took more pictures of my wife then she (my wife) had taken in her whole life. More than that, my wife loved the pictures and I was lost for words. This stranger reached deep into my wife’s soul and pulled out a part of her that  even I had never seen before. How? Why did she even care? Who is she? WTF!!!? in ten minutes Victory changed our lives forever, our generations forever, our family albums forever, WTF!!! I wonder how many other people’s lives she changes so effortlessly on a daily basis? How many stories of Baltimore that now include Victory and Waterfront Partnership?

The next morning I took a picture of my beautiful wife standing in front of the hotel window overlooking the Harbor (at her request) and all I could say was, “Thank you Victory!”  What’s really mind blowing is we never told Vicory why we were really in the city, we only said that we were there for the sights. Linda’s mother was in hospice care suffering from cancer and had only a matter of days to live. Sadly my mother-in-law quietly passed away in her sleep on the 24h.

As we were preparing for Linda’s mother’s service my wife took out the family album to get a picture of her mother for the program when she suddenly burst into tears uncontrollably. She kept saying repeatedly, “she is right, she is right, all we have left are the stories, our love, and our pictures. Why did we not take a picture with Victory? why? ”  I calmly replied, ” we will take a special trip back to Baltimore, not for the sights,not for the room service, not for the crab cakes, but just to take a picture with Victory!”  I want to tell the story of Victory, her smile, her wisdom, her kindness, and her profound effect on our family’s lives and I need her incredible smile that goes with her story.”  Your company has in its possession a priceless diamond and you don’t  even know it.  WOW! So sad. She is a life changer indeed, a giver of priceless gifts, and a hell of a saleswoman. If people really do have a superpower than Victory’s is truly her kind smile, her magnanimous heart, her intelligence,insight  and genuwine love for others indeed makes her a super hero!  Thank you Waterfront Partnership Of Baltimore  for having the good sense to employ such incredible people like Victory!

—

Matt Kujava

General Manager of Operations

Waterfront Partnership of Baltimore

701 E Pratt St, Baltimore, MD

Our Waikiki Ambassadors Continue to Deliver Amazing Service, Even in Challenging Times!

HONOLULU, Hawaii (HawaiiNewsNow) – You see them hard at work all around Waikiki, pushing their cleaning carts, wiping down lamp posts, sporting their brightly-colored polo shirts.

The Aloha Ambassadors are the custodians of the state’s tourist center.

“We maintain the public streets, change trash cans, wipe down stuff, clean up any mess,” team member Saul De La Rosa said.

The non-profit is an arm of the Waikiki Business Improvement District Association, which is funded entirely by private businesses and the commercial properties in Waikiki.

Read the Full Article Here!

How Grand Rapids and Detroit Ambassadors Make A Tremendous Impact Everyday

Our Grand Rapids and Detroit Ambassadors recently received a feature in Michigan blog, A Healthier Michigan, which included an interview with Grand Rapids operations manager, Melvin Eledge. Julie Bitely, of A Healthier Michigan writes:

“They don’t wear capes, but ambassadors working the downtowns of Grand Rapids and Detroit sure know how to save the day.

Whether providing directions to lost visitors or changing a flat tire, their job is to ensure a warm and hospitable encounter for everyone they meet.

‘We get to be superheroes for the day,’ said Melvin Eledge, operations manager for the Grand Rapids program, which started in Sept. 2013. ‘We get to turn people’s bad days into much better days.’

The ambassadors who work in downtown Grand Rapids and in midtown and downtown Detroit are part of Block by Block, an organization which has implemented ambassador programs in over 70 cities in the United States. The Grand Rapids and Detroit programs are the only two in Michigan so far, working closely with Downtown Grand Rapids Inc. and the Downtown Detroit Partnership, respectively.”

Bitely continues, “Ambassadors make their rounds during a typical shift, working to help with clean-up activities, graffiti removal and general Midwest friendliness. They guide out-of-towners to their destinations and answer questions about downtown events. They’ll help people in need of a car battery jump or tire change and even scrape car windows in the winter.

In addition to making downtowns friendlier, ambassadors also serve as an extra set of eyes and ears for police. They’ve been trained in CPR and first-aid, and can also help make connections to services for the homeless men and women they meet during their rounds.

‘There’s not much we don’t do,’ Eledge said.”

View the full story at A Healthier Michigan.

Photo courtesy of A Healthier Michigan.

Meet a Block by Block Operation Supervisor from Waterfront Partnership in Baltimore

Waterfront Partnership of Baltimore shared an excellent introduction to one of our very own, Block by Block operation supervisor, Faneca Porter!

We wanted to share the intro to give you a closer look at the Operation Supervisor role and how someone like Faneca serves her district and her team everyday. So without further adieu, we’ll hand the reins over to Megan, Event Coordinator from Watership Partnership:

“Hi! I’m Megan, Event Coordinator for Waterfront Partnership. I have the best job in Baltimore and work with some pretty cool people. Our team out on the promenade work tirelessly day and night to make sure that folks are safe, answer any questions asked of them, and help to make sure our grounds stay clean.

We can’t keep the awesomeness of these guys and gals to ourselves so I’m going to interview a few of the team members and spotlight them on our blog.

If you see our staff out in the Inner Harbor make sure to stop them and say hello!

I walked into the Harbor East Starbucks to meet Faneca, our Operation Supervisor to interview her for this blog post. As I walked through the doors I heard her before spotting her. She was laughing and chatting with a patron and if I didn’t know Faneca I would assume they were already friends. But as I walked up they parted ways and she confirmed my suspicions, “she just wanted to thank me for all I do and asked if I was keeping warm”. Faneca Porter has become a staple in the Inner Harbor. Her contagious positivity, beaming smile and belly laughs are hard to ignore. Listening to her talk to tourists and locals alike about her love for Baltimore is inspiring and it’s easy to assume that she grew up here based on her deep rooted love for the city.

However, that’s not the case. Faneca made the move to Baltimore from Alabama in 2009. She wanted diversity, opportunity, and a change of pace which she was sure Baltimore could offer. After moving to Charm City her thoughts were validated and she soon learned that most Baltimoreans judge on character first. After talking to Faneca for a few minutes you will easily see why she’s loved by so many people.

After moving to Baltimore she took a position with Waterfront Partnership and quickly moved up through the ranks. On an average day Faneca does everything from internal paperwork, training new hires, monthly training sessions, updates the team on news happening around the harbor, hits the bricks and walks through the district to check on everything. Her favorite part of the day is interacting with businesses and folks walking through the harbor.

Faneca was quick to assure me that there is no typical day on the job. Whether she’s sitting at her desk cranking out payroll, helping our team with event set up or buzzing through the Inner Harbor on a segway, she’s always on the go.

For Faneca the best part of working for Waterfront Partnership is the team. Moving up North she left her extended family behind and found that her co-workers quickly filled that void. Working for an organization that “supports one another from all sides” has been life changing and allows Faneca to enjoy coming to work every single day.

When she’s not working you can find Faneca enjoying a rack of ribs at Dinosaur BBQ or checking out the view from the Top of the World observation deck. She is also a member of Meet Up and enjoys exploring Maryland while meeting new people.

There is one thing I HAD to know about her time in the harbor- what is the strangest question someone has asked?

“Have you ever seen a whale in the harbor?” Faneca laughed and shook her head. Considering the harbor is only 30 feet deep (at it’s deepest point) that would be pretty interesting to see!”

Thanks for all you do, Faneca! And thank you to all of our operation supervisors and managers for helping make our downtowns great!