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For those who can't afford free speech
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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:

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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 

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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 Subscription Service

Street Roots vendors can deliver the newspaper 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 Kodee Zarnke at kodee@streetroots.org to make arrangements.

What is it?

Branching Out is a newspaper subscription service provided by Street Roots vendors. Typically, vendors buy papers from Street Roots for 25 cents and then sell them to individuals for $1. With Branching Out, vendors can sell papers to businesses, housing complexes, and anyone who can buy a minimum of 20 papers at  $1 per copy on a recurring basis. The customer buys papers in bulk, directly from a vendor, to provide to their customers or residents for free. 

What is my commitment?

This subscription service creates a more reliable form of weekly income for vendors. To ensure a sustainable income, we ask that customers commit to purchasing at least 20 papers per delivery from their vendor. Deliveries can happen weekly, bi-monthly, or monthly (work out this schedule with your vendor). We ask that you first commit to a month of deliveries. After a month, you can reassess your newspaper needs. 

What assistance will Street Roots provide?

Street Roots will provide you with a 5 x 7” plexiglass display, explaining the service to your customers. We can also provide a newspaper holder, at your request. Once you become a subscriber, Street Roots will make a social media post to advertise your business as a Branching Out Subscriber. 

If you’d like the 5 x 7” plexiglass display or a newspaper holder, please contact Carly Ng at carly@streetroots.org. 

What do I need to do to start?

You can start today! Please fill out the Branching Out Subscription Agreement. You can fill out the Google Form at this link: https://forms.gle/5KeAQMgxTbmFj6mZ9 or scan the QR code to the left to begin the agreement. A copy of your responses will be sent to your email for record

How should I pay my vendor?

You can purchase papers using cash or Venmo. For Venmo, scan the QR code to the left with your smartphone or find @StreetRoots to start a payment. After you enter the payment amount, type in your vendor’s name, badge number and “Branching Out” in the “what’s it for?” section. Hit “Pay” then confirm the payment by hitting “Pay Street Roots” at the bottom of the screen.

Your Branching Out Street Roots Contacts

Kodee Zarnke, Community Partnerships Coordinator

For questions regarding subscription logistics or to find out more ways to support Street Roots, please contact our community partnerships coordinator Kodee Zarnke (she/they) at kodee@streetroots.org.

Carly Ng, Vendor Program Manager

For vendor communications,  mediation support, and newspaper display materials, please contact our vendor program manager Carly Ng (she/they) at carly@streetroots.org

 

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 Kodee Zarnke at kodee@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.

 


Meet our vendors

Street Roots
A photo of Nettie Johnson holding a Street Roots paper in one hand and propping her dog up on her shoulder with her other hands. A quote next her image says, "“Now, I get to wake up every morning to participate in a job that I enjoy, and even though it is

Street Roots vendor profile | Finding wholeness in wellness

Nettie Johnson uses her addiction counseling skills to help people on the streets
By
Robin Havenick
September 28, 2022
Street Roots
Vendor Marlon Crumpton holds up a copy of Street Roots. Next to his image is a quote from him that says, "“This is why I love Street Roots so much: They brought me back to my own humanity and my own humility."

Street Roots vendor profile | Turning tragedy into triumph

Poet and vendor Marlon Crump says writing keeps him motivated
By
Dylan Jefferies
September 21, 2022
Street Roots
A photo of Street Roots vendor Danny Ciudin, smiling and holding up a newspaper. His cutout is next to a quote from him that says, "“I feel part of the community. Once people get to know you, life gets a lot easier.”

Street Roots vendor profile | Building community in Concordia

Danny says the paper keeps him out of trouble and puts him in a good mood
By
Jessica Hamilton
September 14, 2022
Street Roots
A photo of Stephen Holladay holding a copy of a Street Roots newspaper. His cutout is next to a quote by him that says, "I love selling the Street Roots.  I love having the conversations that go along with it, and I certainly love the people."

Street Roots vendor profile | Stephen brings optimism to his art, poetry and his role as a vendor selling papers

“Gentleman-Poet-Sinner-Saint, a Warrior Angel for those who ain’t”
By
Dylan Jefferies
September 7, 2022
Street Roots
Street Roots vendor Makavalie next to a quote from him that says, "“I want to serve as an example, to turn conversations into actions.”

Street Roots vendor profile | Fashion with a purpose

Makavalie designs his own clothes — with a message for others
By
Jessica Hamilton
August 31, 2022

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