After more than a year of vacancy, the City of Bloomington has hired a new After-Hours Ambassador within the Community and Family Resources Department.
The position was approved by city council in the 2019 budget at the urging of Mayor John Hamilton to enhance public safety downtown.
Charles Culp took the job last month and will officially begin his field duties this weekend.
Culp is an IU graduate who spent the last 15 years in the education sector, working in cities across the country. He is tasked with being the city's nighttime liaison between patrons and businesses downtown Thursday through Saturday.
"For me, it's just being able to relate to any individual on the street and being able to connect them with whatever it is that they need. That’s something I’m really looking forward to," Culp said.
Culp said his background in education has prepared him well for this role because he has certain skills such as deescalating situations, recalling rules and regulations and the ability to communicate with people on a human level.
The city's Community and Family Resources director Beverly Calender-Anderson was featured in WFIU's City Limits project last November to talk about the position.
READ MORE: What Happened To The City Of Bloomington's Evening Ambassador?
"To be that eye downtown after hours because you interface with city hall basically from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.," Calender-Anderson said. "So, if there’s something going on and you have questions after 5 p.m., there’s usually nobody in city hall that you can reach."
Jenna Whiteaker, a former IUPD officer, was Culp's predecessor from July 2019 to April 2020. She left the position after being offered a new job out-of-state.
Culp said one the main issues he will be dealing with is people experiencing homelessness. He said part of his job is forming relationships with local social service agencies so that he can inform people where they can find help, if necessary.
"Letting them know these services are there to support them. Those individuals are often looking for opportunities to find housing, but in some cases these people might actually be avoiding that because they might have been burdened by the process in the past or they don’t trust authority," Culp said.
Other duties of the job include assisting with downtown events, trash pickup and making sure people and businesses are following local laws and ordinances.
"I did a ride along with the Bloomington Police Department for an overnight shift to kind of get the experience and see the lay of the land and what to lookout for downtown," Culp said.
Culp will start his job this weekend with IU students returning to town for the 2021 fall semester.
