Chicago street paper StreetWise and digital storytelling organisation Rivet recently collaborated to produce Where I Stay, a serialised documentary exploring “invisible homelessness”, housing instability and economic injustice in the United States. It centres around Angelica, who was kicked out of her home at age 12 due to family dynamics, but never lived on the street. Prisons, Vegas condos, the living room of a drug queenpin and an inpatient facility for adolescents all followed. In this series of standalone articles to support the podcast, StreetWise meets Angelica and speaks with local experts on the subject of youth homelessness.

Since the death of George Floyd, a young black man killed by a white police officer as his colleagues stood idly by, protests have sprung up across the US and other parts of the world calling for an end to systemic racial injustices and police brutality. American street papers were present at many of those protests.

We check in with vendors at Chicago-based street paper StreetWise as coronavirus has made it impossible for most of them to sell the magazine on the streets.

According to Chicago street paper StreetWise, one of its goals is to be entertaining while highlighting issues affecting its vendors and giving them a voice. Reviewing Oscar-nominated films has become an annual opportunity to give them a chance to tell their own story in a unique way. This year, a cast of 17 vendors weigh in on some of the films up for honours at the 92nd Academy Awards.

Days before Christmas, communities across the US joined together to memorialise those who had died while homeless that year. INSP North America director Israel Bayer summed up the tragedies that have beset countless homeless Americans, while a group of the country’s street papers collaborated on making sure these remembrances, and the people they were about, were noticed.

With the 91st Academy Awards set to be broadcast on Sunday, Chicago’s StreetWise asked its vendors to view all eight movies nominated in the ‘Best Picture’ category and share their thoughts.

In collaboration with The Big Issue, vendors from street papers across the world have been sharing some insider tips on the cities they live and work in, which we are sharing during #VendorWeek. Here, StreetWise vendor A. Allen talks about Chicago.

This year we asked vendors: if you could give a song as a present this Christmas, what would you choose? The result was the INSP Vendor Playlist, which is now available for your listening pleasure. A bunch of StreetWise vendors in Chicago explained in depth about their contributions.

V.W. found StreetWise after attending a homeless luncheon in 2010, during which she learned about the magazine and met other vendors. She has now been selling StreetWise for nearly three years. Here, she talks about her life as a vendor and about the sense of hope that she has regained thanks to her work.

The 90th Academy Awards ceremony, hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, takes place this Sunday, so Chicago’s StreetWise asked its vendors to view a handful of the Academy-nominated films and share their thoughts. It’s a hotly contested year, with quality filmmaking running throughout the nominations, as well as some big surprises and a welcome turn towards greater diversity. (Be warned, there are SPOILERS ahead).

Today, North American street papers will join in with the #VendorWeek celebrations by hosting selling events, some for the first time. This #VendorWeek tradition is a chance for those unfamiliar with the street paper movement to understand better what street paper vendors do.

#VendorWeek 2018 is just around the corner, so we caught up with nine StreetWise vendors. They praise the magazine for giving them hope for the future, the opportunity to interact meaningfully with others and the promise of self-sufficiency.

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.

For New Year’s Eve, we have a bumper series of vendor wishes to share from StreetWise in Chicago.

Former StreetWise vendor Don Smith came in the door of the street paper “not homeless but hopeless”. He credits the organisation and their Transitional Jobs Programme with turning his life around. Now he volunteers every lunchtime as a mentor to current vendors.