#urban-alchemy

#urban-alchemy

After an Urban Alchemy community ambassador was fatally shot on the job last month, San Francisco lawmakers Tuesday rallied behind the nonprofit, whose future role in the city has been in question in recent months. "We cannot deliver on safe and clean streets in the Tenderloin without Urban Alchemy, full stop," said Supervisor Bilal Mahmood, who represents the neighborhood. Mayor Daniel Lurie, District Attorney Brooke Jenkins and other city supervisors also praised the ambassadors' ability to connect

"Our practitioners serve some of the most tough neighborhoods impacted by addiction, poverty, homelessness and crime in San Francisco," he said. "They are trained with their lived experience ... to bring more peace, safety and cleanliness on the streets. It's an unfortunate reality that, yes, we do experience hate and sometimes violence in the line of work that we do."

The city will not renew its contract with Urban Alchemy to manage two key downtown homeless shelters following the discovery of improper data handling by the nonprofit's staff. The Homeless Strategy Office confirmed the contract will end on Sept. 30 and that another service provider, Endeavors, will assume operations under an emergency contract. According to a memo dated Sept. 15, the decision was made after Urban Alchemy staff were found to have "improperly, and without permission, misrepresented Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) exit dates and records." Although the data was later corrected, the city characterized the breach as serious enough to warrant an immediate end to the relationship.