Skip to main content
Street Roots Donate
Portland, Oregon's award-winning weekly street newspaper
For those who can't afford free speech
Twitter Facebook RSS Vimeo Instagram
▼
Open menu
▲
Close menu
▼
Open menu
▲
Close menu
  • Contact
  • Donate
  • About
  • Vendors
  • Rose City Resource
  • Ambassadors
  • Advocacy
  • Support
News
  • Social Justice
  • Housing
  • Environment
  • Culture
  • Opinion
  • Podcasts
  • Vendor Profiles
  • Archives

Vendors

  • Locate a vendor
  • Arrange a bulk subscription
  • Meet our Vendors
  • Become a vendor
  • Request a vendor
  • Voice a concern
  • View the Health certification

Street Roots provides an opportunity for people experiencing homelessness and poverty to earn an income by selling the newspaper.

Vendors

People walk in off the streets, go through orientation, and begin selling the weekly newspaper. Ten complementary papers launch their efforts, and then they purchase each paper for a quarter that they sell for $1, keeping all profits and tips. Street Roots works with more than 800 vendors annuallly, and about 75 percent of vendors are unhoused. Our commitment to getting money into people's pockets is straightforward: Income is an antidote to poverty. There are too many barriers to housing and employment, and we are committed to supporting people aspire to their best futures. 

 

 

 

 

Street Roots

Vendors are central to Street Roots. All our work at Street Roots is connected to a larger sense of community for people who are disenfranchised from power and societal belonging. Vendors form community with each other as well as staff and volunteers at Street Roots, coming to the office for morning coffee, poetry groups, and conversation. They also form relationships with customers, often across socio-economic divides. Through our work and our engagement with each other, we are stronger together, lifting each other up – and for 20 years, that's what Street Roots vendor program has brought to the Portland metro program area. 

Tina Drake talks about the vendor program. Thank you to Leif's Auto Collision Center for producing this video.

 

 

Become a vendor

New vendor orientation is held every Wednesday and Friday at 12:15 pm in the vendor office at 211 NW Davis Street. When you arrive, please wait outside the front door until a staff member comes to take a photo for your vendor badge ID and get you situated inside. Please allow 45 minutes to an hour for orientation. No documents or ID are required.


Locate a vendor

Street Roots vendors sell all over the Portland area on public sidewalks outside local business and community partners. Look for vendors wearing an official Street Roots badge. Please note, Street Roots offers a low-barrier program that allows our vendors to make their own schedules. Vendors' selling hours and days at each location may vary greatly. Here are locations where vendors frequently sell:

.

North Portland

St. John's Plaza
American Red Cross (N Gatenbein & Cook)
New Seasons Interstate (N Rosa Parks & Interstate)
Green Zebra (N Peninsula & Lombard)

NE Portland

Starbucks (NE Grand & Lloyd)
Corner of 14th & Fremont

New Seasons Concordia (NE Emerson & 33rd)
Alberta Co-op (NE Alberta & 22nd)
King Farmer's Market (NE 8th & Wygant)
Safeway Lloyd Center (NE 10th & Broadway)

.

NW Portland

Starbucks (NW 11th & Couch)
Startbucks (NW 11th & Lovejoy)
REI Store (NW 14th & Johnson)
Rite Aid Pearl District (NW 10th & Hoyt)
Stadium Fred Meyer (NW 20th & Burnside)
World Foods (NW 9th & Everett)
Food Front (NW 23rd & Thurman)
Safeway Pearl District (NW 13th & Lovejoy)
 

 

 

SE Portland

Bella's Bakery (SE 91st & Couplet)
Bipartisan Cafe (SE 79th & Stark)
Lents Farmers Market
Imago Dei Church
Grand Central Bakery (SE 23rd & Hawthorne)
New Seasons Hawthorne (SE 40th & Hawthorne)
New Seasons Woodstock (SE 45th & Woodstock)
Powell's on Hawthorne

Corner of SE39th & Belmont
QFC (SE Duke & Milwaukie)
Moreland Farmer's Market 

.

 

 

 

SW Portland

USPS (SW 2nd & Madison)
PSU Farmer's Market
Corner of SW 2nd & Oak
Target (SW 10th & Morrison)
Central Library (SW 11th & Yamhill)
Karam Restaurant (SW 11th & Jefferson)
Starbucks (SW 5th & Oak)
Home Forward (SW 2nd & Ash)
Safeway (SW 11th & Jefferson)
Hillsdale Shopping Center
OHSU Aerial Tram

Corner of SW 10th & Columbia


 

 

Gresham

Gresham Farmers' Market (NW Miller & 3rd)

Arrange a Bulk Subscription

Branching Out With Street Roots


 

Branching Out With Street Roots

Street Roots vendors can deliver weekly to housing complexes, businesses, and anyone who can buy a minimum of $25/week on a recurring basis using Street Roots venmo or through other arrangements. Interested in setting this up? Email Veronica@streetroots.org to make arrangements.

Request a vendor

Do you have a location that you'd welcome a vendor to sell at? Let us know so we can encourage a vendor to sell there. Email Veronica at branchingout@streetroots.org.

 


Voice a concern

Do you have a concern about a Street Roots vendor? Please contact the vendor program director, DeVon Pouncey, at DeVon@streetroots.org.

 


Health Certification

Meet our vendors

Street Roots
A photo of Street Roots vendor Gail Marcotte next to a quote that reads, "“I can go to sleep knowing someone else is warm.”

Street Roots vendor profile | ‘I can go to sleep knowing someone else is warm’

Gail enjoys making connections with her customers
By
Robin Havenick
April 10, 2022
Street Roots
A photo of vendor Jason Isbell holding an issue of street roots. A quote next to his photo reads, “I’m starting to experience hope again for the first time in a long time.”

Street Roots vendor profile | Experiencing hope and looking ahead

Jason is focusing on finding things that bring him comfort and peace
By
Dylan Jefferies
April 7, 2022
Street Roots
A photo of vendor Melissa Hansen wearing a black beanie and smiling. Her photo is next to a quote from her that reads, “Everything will be alright — we’re all in this boat together, we just gotta find the oars.”

Street Roots vendor profile | Good people make good community

Melissa’s faith and community guide her during hard times
By
Jessica Hamilton Emily Emanuel
March 23, 2022
Street Roots
A photo of Racheal smiling and holding up a copy of a comic book and wearing a black puffy jacket. A quote next to her reads, "“Street Roots has given me  the opportunity to help  my community.”

Street Roots vendor profile | Racheal knows what’s in a name

Hoping to heal the world around her, Racheal is invested in her community
By
Jessica Hamilton
March 16, 2022
Street Roots
Max McEntire smiles and his photo is next to a quote that reads, "Street Roots is what has kept me alive. I love Street Roots. I’m loyal to it.”

Street Roots vendor profile | Max’s work and his customers keep him going

Max made Portland home in 2019
By
Robin Havenick
March 9, 2022

Pages

  • ≪ previous
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
  • 9
  • next »

2 of 70

▼
Open menu
▲
Close menu
  • © 2021 Street Roots. All rights reserved. To request permission to reuse content, email editor@streetroots.org.
  • Read Street Roots' commenting policy
  • Support Street Roots
  • Like what you're reading? Street Roots is made possible by readers like you! Your support fuels our in-depth reporting, and each week brings you original news you won't find anywhere else. Thank you for your support!

  • DONATE