From shelter to service: Pearl Ambassadors help keep downtown Pittsfield clean
BY MARYJANE WILLIAMS
THE BERKSHIRE EAGLE
MONDAY, AUGUST 18, 2025
PITTSFIELD — Not long ago, Keith could be found on a North Street corner, drinking and flicking cigarette butts onto the sidewalk.
Today, he’s back on the same street — this time sober, wearing a safety vest and picking up litter as a volunteer with the new Pearl Ambassador Program.
The initiative, launched by Downtown Pittsfield Inc. in partnership with ServiceNet, aims to keep the city clean while offering meaningful opportunities for residents of the Pearl shelter.
“I feel more proud of myself,” said Keith, who has been living in the 40-bed shelter at 21 Pearl St. since January. “I feel a lot better and proud being downtown and keeping our streets clean.”
Born out of feedback from DPI members and North Street businesses, the program was created to address ongoing concerns about downtown cleanliness.
“And we thought that working through the Pearl would be a great way to be able to provide services here in our downtown, while supporting individuals in need who are working within a program and process to better themselves,” Downtown Pittsfield Inc. Managing Director Rebecca Brien said.
Each week, six volunteers from the Pearl shelter wear bright yellow vests and take to the streets, collecting litter, wiping down benches and parking kiosks and maintaining cigarette-butt dispensers.
Keith, who participates in the program one to three times a week, said he has noticed a difference in the way people interact with him since he started volunteering.
“A lot of the shopkeepers and pedestrians knew who I was, and they’ve said that they’ve seen a change in me. And that always makes me feel good,” Keith said. “I want people to know that the homeless are capable of change, they just need help.”
Participants receive a weekly stipend to dine at downtown restaurants — an experience Brien said helps volunteers build social skills while giving business owners a chance to connect with them.
“To be honest, I’d do it without the compensation, because it’s helped a lot, but the dinners at the end of the week — we worked hard all week, and we’re able to get together, we get to talk and share our stories,” Keith said.
As part of the pilot program, ambassadors work three days a week in two-hour shifts, with two volunteers each day, chosen from those who are available and interested.
The program, which began in early June and runs through the end of October, costs $10,000 and is funded in part by MassDevelopment’s Transformative Development Initiative cleanup program — but organizers need to seek funding for it to continue.
“This program has proven beneficial for our downtown,” Brien said. “Being able to continue it into next year and the future would be something that we would be very proud to be part of.”
The ambassadors have taken ownership of the downtown cigarette-butt dispensers, ensuring they’re regularly emptied and sent to TerraCycle, where the waste is recycled into products like couches. They have even identified six additional spots where new dispensers will be installed.
Keith said cleaning the street also gives him and his supervisor a chance to connect with people who are struggling, many of whom ask how they can get involved.
“I have changed,” Keith said. “I’ve come a long way, and people out there do notice, and I want the same for me as everybody else — to be happy.”
Maryjane Williams can be reached at [email protected] or 413-496-6139.
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