Right Now Downtown

SPEECH SPEECH!

Have you seen the Street Speech newspaper vendors, hawking their wares on downtown corners?

If you’ve purchased a paper, you already know what it’s all about.

If you’ve walked on by, here’s a risk-free chance to learn a little more about the newspapers and the program.  As it turns out, the publication is the best education that one slim buck can buy.

Street Speech is published by the Columbus Coalition for the Homeless.  The vendors you’ve met are local homeless people.  They are participating in a program that blends education and employment:  selling the newspapers offers work experience and it generates a little income.

The sellers aren’t the only ones getting an education.  As readers, we can learn valuable lessons too.  According to Coalition member and Outreach Specialist for Discovery Special Improvement District, Jim Rose, “Some of the articles are from national sources, some are locally written.  A number of authors write from the perspective of being homeless – or formerly homeless, while others take advocacy positions.”

Its diverse content makes the newspaper especially interesting – so much so that the group has increased distribution exponentially.  Only 400 copies of the first Street Speech were printed; these days the group turns out 8,000 – 10,000 copies per month.  Each vendor invests twenty-five cents per copy, and sells them to patrons for one dollar.

You can support the program by buying a copy of Street Speech, and there are many other opportunities to get on board with the Columbus Coalition for the Homeless.  Their great work is possible only with the help of many volunteers.   To learn more, check columbushomeless.org.