As 2017 draws to a close, we asked vendors across the global street paper network to look back on the highs and lows of their year. Helmut sells Austrian street paper Kupfermuckn and, for him, 2017 has been a year of extreme highs and lows.

Despite struggling with a knee injury, Isaias, a Mi Valedor vendor in Mexico, has had quite an eventful year. Looking back on 2017, he tells us about the moments that made him feel proud as well as what it feels like to become famous!

Sherika and Brian, from Philadelphia street paper One Step Away, tell us about their year and how selling the paper has had a positive impact on their lives.

Becoming a Mi Valedor vendor has given Hadassha hope: hope that she can resist despair and move towards a more hopeful future. Here, she reflects on her life and talks about the lifeline that selling the magazine has offered her.

Slobodan and Milutin, Liculice vendors in Serbia, talk about love, life and phobias as they reflect on their year.

Here at INSP, to celebrate Christmas and the end of another year, we’re talking to vendors about how 2017 panned out for them. Carlos, at Portuguese street paper CAIS, has been on the search for a permanent home, and is optimistic about the year to come.

As 2017 draws to a close, we asked vendors across the global street paper network to look back on the highs and lows of their year and reveal their hopes and aspirations for the next one. First up is Jean-Claude, a L’Itinéraire vendor.

Time to reflect back on the unsung month of November, and the impressive bunch of street paper covers we’ve seen around the world in the past 30 days.

Allan is a long-time vendor who has been selling The Big Issue in Melbourne for 20 years. Here, he talks about his Aboriginal background, struggles with addiction and how his spirits are lifted through the power of song.

Martin sells StreetWise in downtown Chicago, where he enjoys building bonds with his customers. Here, he talks about the challenges and pleasures of his work as a vendor, and how selling the magazine is helping him embrace a positive future.

This week marks the 600th time the INSP News Service email will drop into the inboxes of members across the global street paper network. To celebrate, we looked back at some of the stories that have spread throughout the world thanks to the service, and hear from some of the beneficiaries of this unique editorial support platform.

For Suhamet Sadik, selling Lice v Lice is a lifeline that enables him to support his family. In a sincere interview, Suhamet shares his wishes and plans and speaks out about the problems posed by marginalization in Macedonian society.

Loretta H. talks to Street Roots about her journey to becoming a Street Roots vendor and the ways in which selling the magazine is giving her hope for the future.

In order to give its vendors an even better chance of being noticed on the busy streets of Stockholm, Swedish street paper Situation Sthlm worked with students at the city’s Beckmans College of Design to produce a stylish, noticeable and practical new jacket.

Kralji Ulice vendor Dejan talks about his personal circumstances, how selling the paper has helped him to cope with unemployment and the reasons why he enjoys his work as a street paper vendor.

The witching hour is upon us, and has conjured up a month of frighteningly good covers to keep the spectres at bay.

Richard Gerrard has been selling street papers for almost a decade and has benefited greatly from being a vendor. In his spare time, he revels in the outdoors and exercises his artistic eye through photography.

Nikos Servos is a Shedia vendor in Athens. Here, in his own poetic style, he shares his ruminations on life and, through his stories and thoughts, boldly asserts his desire to keep on smiling and existing.

Cornell Jarea moved to London in 2013. Initially lucky in finding work, his fortunes changed when his job came to an end. He tells the Big Issue about life in the UK and how selling the magazine has helped him.

The ONE Festival of Homeless Arts showcases and celebrates works of art, in a variety of mediums, imagined and created by people who have experienced homelessness. Curated and compiled by artist and campaigner David Tovey, the exhibition at the Diorama Arts Centre kicked off its second instalment on World Homeless Day.

This is the first in a series of interviews with European policy makers on homelessness. It is part of a collaboration between INSP (International Network of Street Papers) and the European Federation of National Organisations Working with the Homeless (FEANTSA) in the context of the campaign: ‘Be Fair, Europe – Stand Up for Homeless People.’ This campaign calls on the European Union to boost efforts to end homelessness.

This first instalment is the result of conversations with Commissioner Corina Crețu, whose work revolves around EU regional policy and the urban agenda, and Commissioner Marianne Thyssen, who is responsible for employment, social affairs, skills and labour mobility.

INSP was pleased to offer another round of scholarships this year, supporting 19 delegates from 13 countries to attend the Global Street Paper Summit that took place in Manchester in August.

We catch up with Arturo, a Mi Valedor vendor, who is grateful for the support that he has found by selling the magazine. He tells us about his past, his experiences as a vendor and his mission to help others.

We bid farewell to September by having a look back at the best of the street paper covers from the month.

Progress Cembi, 46, sells The Big Issue at Cavendish Square, Claremont, in Cape Town. He tells us about his journey as a Big Issue entrepreneur and about his hopes for his and his family’s future.

Richard Wilkinson’s work is dedicated to exposing deeply rooted societal inequality and to showing how much better off people are when living in a more equal society. With ‘The Spirit Level’, the book he co-authored with his colleague Kate Pickett, he brought the results of that work to a mass audience. After his keynote speech at the 2017 Global Street Paper Summit, Wilkinson told INSP about the growing problem of inequality and what street papers are doing to combat it.

The CEO of the Centre for Local Economic Strategies (CLES) Neil McInroy brought his outspoken and enthralling way of striving for a more progressive economy to the 2017 Global Street Paper Summit in Manchester. He spoke in greater detail with INSP about how he perceives himself, and his organization, as outside the mainstream and how the work of street papers fits in to his worldview.

Gernot Holzinger is an Augustin vendor who lives in Vienna. Here, he talks candidly about his past and problems with addiction, and talks about his involvement with the paper.