Our Vendor Program supports individuals experiencing poverty and homelessness, particularly in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside and surrounding areas. Vendors purchase Megaphone products at wholesale cost and sell them on the street at predetermined prices, keeping the profits.
The program offers a self-determined employment model to people with barriers to traditional employment, such as poverty, disability and substance use. Vendors are independent contractors, who buy their own product, decide their working hours and build their own customer base. Megaphone products are high quality journalism and literary publications that vendors can be proud to sell to the public.
The sales model is simple. Vendors buy:
- Megaphone magazine for 75 cents and sell it on the street for $2+
- Voices of the Street anthology for $5 and sell it on the street for $15
- Hope in Shadows calendar for $10 and sell it on the street for $20
Vendor Mentorship Program
Our mentorship program offers comprehensive training for new vendors by some of our most established vendors. Veteran vendors (mentors) take new vendors (mentees) out onto the street for paid one-on-one mentorships. They provide coaching on how to engage the public to make sales, secure a good location and retain customers. Mentors also create and facilitate regular paid skills-building workshops for groups of up to 20 mentees.
The mentorship program is a way for mentors to pass on all the of the knowledge and expertise they have gained over the years while participating in a leadership role. Mentees gain confidence through mentorship, group trainings and team-building activities.
