The Street Roots Ambassador Program builds on the talents and expertise of people on the streets while diversifying income opportunities at Street Roots.
For 20 years, Street Roots has provided low-income opportunities vending our newspaper, and the Ambassador Program adds additional low-barrier income opportunities for people by building on their strengths, passions and aptitudes in ways that can also lead to new employment supported by our partnerships.
Because we are a media organization, these opportunities build on efforts to communicate accurate information, report and deliver the news, conduct research and support creative expression.
What has became the Street Roots Ambassador Program began in March 2020, when Street Roots vendor Raven Drake set up a medical tent on the edge of Interstate North where people from neighboring camps could be isolated should they be stricken with COVID-19. Raven next advised the Multnomah County Health Department on materials to communicate information about COVID-19 to unhoused people, and then launched a Coronavirus Action Team of Street Roots vendors with Tina Drake to deliver that information to over 1000 unhoused people.
