Save the Curbside Chronicle!

*Editor’s Note: On Tuesday, there will be a vote on a proposed Oklahoma City ordinance that could jeopardize the Curbside Chronicle, a magazine that employs homeless and at-risk individuals. My local vendor had been Marcus. He always bragged about his movie review section and I looked forward to seeing him waving the new issue from the median. Marcus scored a full-time job elsewhere, so I now just grab an edition from whoever is at 23rd and Penn. Being able to set up vendors on medians is crucial since that is the source of the vast majority of their sales. Without them, this city will likely lose this important program. Contact your city council and let them know that this ordinance is cruel and against the Christian values nearly all of our council members run on. More pragmatic is the fact that the ordinance will be counter-productive to the mission of easing homelessness in OKC. What follows is a brief excerpt from a story by our friends at Red Dirt Report. Click on the link at the bottom to get the full story.

OKLAHOMA CITY – Chances are you’ve seen them on the medians of busy local streets, looking for a few extra dollars from passing motorists. No, we’re not talking about panhandlers—we’re talking about the street-level entrepreneurs selling copies of the local magazine The Curbside Chronicle.

By employing homeless and at-risk individuals in Oklahoma City to sell the eclectic magazine, The Curbside Chronicle has provided numerous individuals with an attainable form of employment and a way for them to earn income, giving them a way off the streets.

It’s a success story that editor Ranya O’Connor has seen repeated numerous times over the magazine’s past two years. Finally able to devote herself to it full-time, she estimates they’ve trained over 200 individuals and currently have 30 vendors that are “going out and selling and relying on our magazine for employment.”

Read the rest of Louis Fowler’s story on the Red Dirt Report website!