BANGOR, Maine — In downtown Bangor, you can see Streetplus ambassadors walking or biking in bright orange shirts, hoping to be a friendly face in the city.
The team is working to help to address public safety concerns, provide resources to those experiencing homelessness, and report incidents like vandalism. The Downtown Bangor Partnership and the Streetplus team say their goal is to provide community support.
"Ask people how their day is going; sometimes all people need to hear is a hello," Joe Moore, a team member from Streetplus, said.
He is one of the six-person team working to make Downtown Bangor a place where everyone feels welcome.
"That's what I want to see more of: people coming in checking out the businesses," Moore said.
The project, years in the making, came about in part to address issues in the community like homelessness, addiction, and mental health concerns.
"Just by having a presence of a team in uniform, it automatically kind of minimizes some of the negative behaviors that you see. People are less likely to act out when the team is on patrol," Betsy Lundy, the executive director of Downtown Bangor Partnership, said.
She said the organization brought in the service to address public safety concerns among residents, visitors, and those in the community.
"Just help downtown be vibrant; to help all the people who use downtown in so many different ways be able to do it without coming into conflict with each other so that everybody is able to have their needs met," Lundy said.
They provide services like escorting people to their cars at night, picking up liter, and connecting people to resources.
While they have only been patrolling for a few weeks they already see the impact its having on the community.
"We've met several individuals, some unhoused individuals, we've learned their names and we say 'hi' to them. I'd like to think that we're making an impact, we're getting our name out there,” Moore said.
The team provides 24/7 support throughout downtown.