The Downtown Safety Alliance is hosting a Business Watch session May 8 with the focus on the Great Falls Rescue Mission. The event is open to the public.

The mission has made changes to their programs and protocols in recent months to help address issues in the downtown area, in close partnership with Officer Adam Hunt, the Business Residential Involving Community, or BRIC, officer for the Great Falls Police Department.

Redesigning downtown to reduce transient traffic

Jim Kizer, executive director of the mission, will share information about changes in security and safety that the mission has implemented to improve the downtown business district and surrounding neighborhoods.

Getting expired beer off shelves a step forward for public safety downtown 

Hunt will also answer questions related to downtown safety.

Hunt is encouraging anyone with questions about the mission’s operations, or downtown safety, to come to the meeting and ask those questions since there are many misconceptions about both.

Revamped Coins for a Cause program continues effort to curb panhandling in downtown Great Falls

The Downtown Safety Alliance is a committee of the Downtown Development Partnership. The Business Watch meetings are held five times annually, on the second Tuesday of January, March, May, September and November. The Business Watch meeting is 5:30 p.m. May 8 at the NeighborWorks Learning Center, 509 1st Ave. S.

For more information, call Joan Redeen with the Business Improvement District, at 727-5430 or Carol Bronson, with NWGF, at 216-3526.