Nearly 10,000 vendors in 34 countries sell street papers, including Street Roots. Feb. 4-10 is the International Network of Street Papers’ Vendor Week (#VendorWeek), celebrating vendors’ work in the street paper movement. Here are just a few of their stories.
Julie Chapman
Megaphone | Vancouver, B.C.
A mom of two kids and two cats, Julie “Jewel” Chapman would take everyone under her wing for protection if she could. Her altruistic activism fuels her work within the Downtown Eastside community of Vancouver, where she is a support worker for sex workers and those struggling with addiction. Despite some people’s negative attitude towards the Downtown Eastside, where a concentration of the city’s addicted live, Jewel feels that her neighborhood is a wonderful community full of hope.
Jewel is no stranger to activism. She’s a support worker for Sex Workers United Against Violence, or SWUAV, and is involved with the B.C. Association for People on Methadone and the B.C. Centre on Substance Use.
Through SWUAV, Jewel strives to educate those surviving through sex work about the dangers of the streets.
“There’s so many young ladies, young girls really, in unsafe positions ... fresh out of wherever they come from. If I could take them all under my wing, I would,” she said. “They’re beautiful and they have their wits about them, but that won’t last.” She says there are “way too many young girls out here,” with some as young as 14 years old.
As part of her work with SWUAV, Jewel distributes “bad date” sheets and red alerts about known violent offenders or suspicious people who seek to prey on the vulnerable.
As a mother of two grown sons and a pet owner, Jewel also takes care of her own family. “I have two kids and two cats, and I don’t know which ones are messier,” she says wryly.
A hairdresser by trade, Jewel has been a Megaphone vendor since 2003, selling magazines, books and calendars in Gastown near the steam clock.
She also knows her way around the water: she worked as a lifeguard at Kits pool in her younger years. “I’ve always been a strong swimmer,” she says.
And she has a message for those outside the Downtown who are dismissive of its residents and the formidable challenges they face. “Stop acting like it’s not their problem. It is their problem,” Jewel said, adding that the two most pressing issues are the lack of affordable housing and “killer drugs.” “I’ve never seen it like this,” she said.
She also offers encouragement to those within the neighborhood.
“A lot of people frown upon the Downtown Eastside. They say there’s no hope,” she says. “There have been times I thought that, but the people are what make up this beautiful community, and they’re strong. I’ve never felt defeated.”
– Paula Carlson
Courtesy of Megaphone / INSP.ngo
STREET ROOTS VENDOR PROFILES: Meet our vendors
Street Roots is an award-winning, nonprofit, weekly newspaper focusing on economic, environmental and social justice issues. Our newspaper is sold in Portland, Oregon, by people experiencing homelessness and/or extreme poverty as means of earning an income with dignity. Learn more about Street Roots
