Street papers are sold in over 200 cities worldwide.
What is a street paper?
Taken from the International Network Of Street Papers website:
"Street papers are independent newspapers and magazines that provide unique employment opportunities and enterprising social programmes for people experiencing poverty and homelessness. Vendors buy copies of the street paper at a price of 50% or lower than the cover price, then sell the street papers, keeping the proceeds. In addition to employment, many INSP street papers offer their vendors ongoing social support."
Beyond the street paper…
Street papers are excellent vehicles of change, but they are just one means to the end. Our desire at Speak Up Magazine is to not only provide a quality product for our vendors to sell, but to motivate a radical shift in how society views and responds to marginalized peoples. One way to do that is to provide a creative platform in which they (and we) can speak up, in which they can do more than just try to survive.
But there are other ways. What if there were teams of homeless people, organized and hired to work odds-and-ends-jobs that would benefit widows, single moms, the elderly and the injured people of Charlotte? What if Speak Up Magazine could generate the funds to hire them? Our goal is to employ those gripped in poverty in ways that go beyond selling the magazine, and in ways that will revolutionize how they are viewed.
The Challenge…
We realize there are many homeless struggling with addictions. There are many who are not looking for change. But we refuse to judge the few by the many. There are those in our city who want a chance, and we want to be there to give it. As for the others, we do not give up hope. We will strive to reach them all, even those who seem beyond reach. We will lean on God for the strategy to every challenge we face. We would rather hope and be deferred than to not hope at all. We would rather try and fail than not try at all. As Abraham Lincoln put it, "The probability that we may fail in the struggle ought not deter us from the support of a cause we believe to be just."
Join us in trying.
