Neighborhood Ambassadors Program

Jacqueline Kalipeni, Neighborhood Ambassador Supervisor for the City of Champaign's Neighborhood Services Department, presented the city's new ARPA-funded Neighborhood Ambassadors pilot program. She described the team's visible presence downtown and in neighborhoods, evening hours, work on small grant applications, block parties and cleanups, and crime deterrence through relationship-building rather than enforcement. She also recounted her own history as an immigrant from Malawi who came to the U.S. under political asylum, left the University of Illinois, and returned to finish her degree in 2020 after a year of multiple losses. Audience Q&A followed. Friday Forum followed by Conversation Cafe.