For more than 10 years Megaphone Magazine has been making marginalized voices heard and putting much needed funds into the pockets of low income and homeless vendors.
The vendors sell the monthly magazine on the streets of Vancouver and Victoria, buying each magazine for 75 cents and selling it to customers for $2. The $1.25 profit goes into their pockets, providing a flexible source of income for people who face barriers to traditional employment – barriers that range from homelessness, to physical and mental health challenges, to addiction. In addition, Megaphone’s Hope in Shadows calendar showcases the photography of Megaphone vendors who use single-use disposable cameras to capture images in their communities. The vendors buy the calendars for $10 and sell them for $20. Every year, some 150 Megaphone vendors earn income and experience a more intangible benefit – the pride that comes with taking a role in sharing their communities’ stories. Megaphone brings together professional journalists with storytellers in the community who explore issues of social justice, culture, politics and independent arts – in stories shared directly by people who are experiencing poverty and homelessness and in reporting by journalists who give voice to marginalized people in the community who might otherwise never be heard.