(KRON) – – The Citizen App is offering about 20,000 free memberships for the AAPI community. A new initiative to help keep the community safe.
The citizen app that lets residents report crimes and suspicious activity will be offering free premium access to the Asian American community in San Francisco.
The app is partnering with the city’s Chinese American Association Chamber. The organization says hate crimes against Asian business owners continue to plague the city.
Trevor Chandler, the Citizen App’s Director of Government Affairs and Public Policy, told KRON4, “the Asian American Community in San Francisco is a third of the city and in addition, Citizen is used already by a third of the Bay Area and so it made complete sense as we were thinking about how we could be a part of the solution that San Francisco was the place where we were going to make this commitment to provide up to 20,000 free premium accounts that comes to $5 million dollars.
The $5 million dollars came from the company Goodwater Collective. Citizen’s premium accounts typically cost $20 a month or $240 a year.
Some of the features include:
-a citizen agent staying on the line if you feel unsafe walking down the street
-connecting you to emergency services
-and tracking your location
Carl Chan, an advocate for Asian Americans in Oakland and President of the Oakland Chinatown Chamber of Commerce says he encourages the asian community to use this service. He tells KRON4, “I just want people to try. I’m so appreciative that people are trying different ways to protect people. I also think we need to try it out and see if it will work. if it works well, i think we need to expand this service.”
Citizen hopes to offer more free premium accounts. Chandler says, “we are looking for partnerships for many asian american organizations and organizations that serve the Asian community and we would love to stay in touch and be reached out to anyone in the Bay Area so we can help fully distribute these 20,0000 accounts.”
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On Thursday at 11 am, Citizen representatives will help set up the app on phones and train the Asian community at the Chinese American Association of Commerce on Clay Street in San Francisco.
