Help Us, Help Others

A photo of Jeffrey McNeil.

Jeff McNeil. Photo by Street Sense.

Vendors get their start by coming to the office and attending a training session, which generally lasts an hour, after which you get 10 free papers to sell. After they are sold, you can either pocket the profit or buy more papers to sell. I emphasize “buy more” because even though we have a solid customer base, many people still have stereotypes regarding those who are homeless.  

Street Sense helps change how people view homelessness. Selling newspapers isn’t a form of panhandling or a sympathy play. We are not only independent contractors but also entrepreneurs who invest back into Street Sense when we buy more papers. When a vendor buys 10 papers and doesn’t sell them, he loses the money he spent on papers. If he sells 10 papers, he makes a profit on whatever he bought. 

Even though helping your favorite vendor with a couple of bucks is good, your donation also enables vendors to reconnect to the community as a whole. Customers often help vendors with leads on job prospects, training, education, housing and general networking to find any information that will help vendors grow. Believe it or not, money is the least of all reasons for those who sell newspapers.  

One very important way that readers can support Street Sense, especially if they run a business or a nonprofit, is to place an ad in the paper. The Street Sense customer base includes 16,000 to 20,000 people, 62% female and 38% male, with the average income between $80,000 and $100,000. Placing an ad will not only give your organization exposure, it will also help Street Sense expand its mission to other areas where homelessness exists. 


Issues |Nonprofits

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