Curbside Chronicle - Helping the homeless become business owners.

The Curbside Chronicle is a magazine that employs and empowers homeless and low-income individuals in Oklahoma City. The Curbside Chronicle is dedicated to: Providing a legitimate source of income for homeless and low-income individuals in Oklahoma City. Providing a voice for the homeless within its magazine, covering a wide variety of social issues.    Ending panhandling in Oklahoma City by providing a positive alternative for those in need. Building community between homeless and non-homeless individuals. Increasing social awareness of homeless issues and decreasing stigmatization of the homeless.    What is a street paper? A street paper is a publication that provides homeless and low-income individuals with a voice and a legitimate source of income. Street papers are sold entirely by homeless and low-income individuals, who are able to use this employment as a stepping-stone out of homelessness.    Street papers also seek to give a voice to the homeless by publishing articles written by the homeless and about homelessness. There are 126 street papers around the world and 39 in the United States.    The Curbside Chronicle is the first and only street paper in Oklahoma. How does it work? Before beginning work, vendors go through an application, interview, and training process. Vendors also sign a strict code of conduct concerning vending procedures and rules.    All vendors are considered self-employed and act as small business owners. Vendors get 15 free magazines to begin with and sell each magazine for the suggested donation of $2. After their first 15 free, vendors purchase magazines for $0.75 an issue and continue to sell them for the suggested donation of $2. Vendors keep 100% of their profits from sales and act as small business owners when they purchase more magazines to restock their inventory. This $0.75 vendor fee creates ownerships, responsibility, and empowerment in the vendor position.    The Curbside Chronicle believes in a hand-up not a handout for vendors. What is our role? The Curbside Chronicle is a transition tool that helps homeless and low-income individuals in Oklahoma City get back on their feet. We help our vendors build job skills and gain valuable work experience before transitioning into other career opportunities.    We empower individuals to gain the confidence necessary to pursue further employment, as well as the necessary skills to maintain employment. Our vendors use their profits from magazine sales to transition into housing and reach other financial goals. We assist our vendors in their transition into housing and other employment from The Curbside Chronicle.    What’s inside the magazine? The Curbside Chronicle seeks to provide a voice for the homeless within its magazine. 50% of our content is written by the homeless or about issues of poverty.    Our homeless writers write on a variety of topics that range from homeless issues to local, state, national, and global news. We encourage our writers to write about issues that concern them and their personal interests within the magazine. We hope these articles can help educate our readers about issues of homelessness and also break negative stereotypes about the homeless. The other 50% of content revolves around OKC.    We love to highlight local businesses, artists, and people. We try to cover a wide variety of topics within each magazine and highlight the vibrant, growing Oklahoma City community.