Street vendors of the Megaphone newspaper across Vancouver will be celebrated at the Big Sell event on Feb. 4 at 10:30-11:30 a.m. at Granville and West Georgia Street.
The event pairs vendors with local public figures to sell the paper as part of International Street Paper Vendor Week (Feb 1-7).
Those participating include city councillors Adriane Carr and Geoff Meggs, musician Dan Mangan, Gregory Henriquez of Henriquez Partners Architects and Trish Garner of the B.C. Poverty Reduction Society.
Megaphone is more than just a local newspaper, it is a poverty reduction social enterprise that provides low income or homeless residents with the opportunity to earn an income, says Megaphone’s executive director, Sean Condon.
“Vendors buy each copy for 75 cents and they sell it for two dollars, keeping the profit. They are basically working as micro-entrepreneurs. It’s a way for people to earn an income through flexible, low barrier and low threshold employment,” says Condon.
Stories published in Megaphone are written by both vendors and professional journalists. Most of the stories deal with issues related to poverty, including mental illness, addiction and social justice. It also covers general stories related to Vancouver.
“The content is a mix as well, we also look at general interest news and independent arts and culture news. We want to talk about these important issues, but we also want to make sure that this is a very strong product that our vendors can sell and that people want to buy,” Condon says.
The vendors also bring issues discussed in Megaphone to the forefront through developing relationships with customers. In this way, it allows communities to learn about important issues relating to poverty from speaking with the vendors, which opens up a dialogue about how to deal with these issues.
Megaphone is one of the many street vendor newspapers around the world that is a member of the International Network of Street Papers, an organization which started International Street Paper Vendor Week.
“It is a way to celebrate what the vendors do in our communities and to talk about how important they are to each community,” says Condon. “Take some time during that week to let your vendor know what they mean to you. Some of our vendors have been selling for a long time. Show some love to the vendors.”
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