Along with representatives from L’Itinéraire, Denver Voice, Streetvibes, Streetwise, What’s Up and Street Roots, last week I was one of more than 70 street paper delegates from around the world that converged in Melbourne, Australia, to help build a stronger global street paper movement. While the International Network of Street Papers (INSP), which Megaphone is a member of, used its 15th annual conference as a chance to look forward, what struck me most was how powerful this network has already become.
With more than 100 street papers providing employment opportunities to roughly 500,000 vendors in all corners of the globe (and more papers popping up every year), the movement has never been stronger. As The Big Issue South Africa director Trudy Vlok told delegates, street papers are now the biggest social enterprise project in the world. Every time you buy an issue of one of the NASNA member street papers, you are participating in an international campaign to end poverty.
What I most appreciated from the conference was the opportunity to learn from other papers on how to improve their services for vendors. Perhaps no paper best exemplifies the extraordinary accomplishments and potential of a street paper than the conference’s host, The Big Issue Australia. With roughly 400 vendors across the country and a monthly circulation of 80,000, it has helped create a new kind of community that bridges class, gender and race divisions.
The Australian street paper has strong support from corporations, public services, local and national governments and, most importantly, the general public. The paper’s readers recognize how important it is to have a vibrant street paper because of what it can do for the homeless vendors and the paper recognizes how important it is to provide a high-quality magazine for this project to succeed.
Not satisfied with simply continuing to maintain the status quo, The Big Issue Australia is now finding new employment opportunities for women by involving them in a subscription project and they are helping to run the country’s street soccer program so their vendors can connect on the pitch as well as the streets.
What is truly exceptional about the street paper movement is how each paper is willing to share their stories and projects and work together so that every paper can move forward. I am proud of what the movement has already accomplished and look forward to the NASNA conference this July to learn more about the giant steps street papers are still set to make.
Sean Condon
Megaphone Executive Director
NASNA vice-chair
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