Ambassadors

The Street Roots Ambassador Program builds on the talents and expertise of people on the streets while diversifying income opportunities at Street Roots.

Street Roots Ambassador Program Manager Raven Drake and Lead Ambassador Gary Barker meet regularly to strategize new horizons for ambassador work. Sometimes they match their attire.

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.

That action team also distributed mail to hundreds of people who receive their mail at Street Roots, served coffee, helped people physically distance in lines. and signed people up for their federal stimulus money. Teams also made gratitude phone calls to supporters and ran a Census Assistance Center through the #WeCountOregon campaign.

The COVID-19 Action Team transformed from a crisis response to the Ambassador Program on Oct. 1, 2020, when Raven Drake joined the staff as Ambasador Program Manager. Soon after, Gary Barker began working as Lead Ambassador. This fall and winter, the Ambassadors have conducted surveys, in partnership with Portland State Homelessness Research Collaborative, to bring input from unhoused people to policy work.

They also continue to do outreach to unhoused people to bring out necessary supplies and information which builds on our work with Rose City Resource. They also do other projects at Street Roots, including outreach to support (our stellar Gratitude Brigade) and hospitality with vendors. And – coming soon – Street Roots Ambassadors will lead trainings, workshops and community conversations to strengthen how housed neighbors communicate with unhoused neighbors. Some will work as MoJos (Mobile Journalists), reporting the news.

Ambassador Program Manager Raven Drake tells her story of transformation during 2020 in a film produced by Outside the Frame.

The Ambassador Program draws from our strength as a media organization. We have years of experience delivering news, communicating with the public and each other, and embarking in creative expression. As such, ambassadors are working on the following initiatives:

Outreach of supplies and information to unhoused people, extending the work of our Rose City Resource.
Survey work to inform policy work and public knowledge (frequently in partnership with Portland State Homelessness & Action Collaborative);
Goodwill and hospitality at Street Roots in support of other unhoused people as well as communication with Street Roots supporters (through our Gratitude Brigade)
Journalism through our Mobile Journalism initiative (MOJO), spearheaded by Gary Barker, Lead Ambassador
Creative expression, including writing and art publications, performances and exhibitions.

These are low barrier employment opportunities. We see the barriers to employment and housing that many people face as deriving from experiences that can also be strengths in particular jobs. We aim to connect our ambassadors with new work opportunities based in their aptitudes and skills.

We strive to not duplicate, but rather partner and refer to other organizations that also provide low barrier work opportunities.

As such, we uplift Ground Score for contracts and jobs in waste management; Outside the Frame for film making; Stone Soup in culinary skills; and – for youth looking for barista or bike repair skills, p:ear.