Darcel Rockett
Cubs games were always a solid bet for StreetWise vendor Danny Davis, who could usually walk away with up to $400 from selling papers outside Wrigley Field.
Working outside United Center for Bulls or Blackhawks games was a little less profitable but decent. Still, nothing paid out like a certain blockbuster musical downtown.
“I tell you something I really miss: the ‘Hamilton’ show,” he said. “I ate off that show for 2 1/2 years. If I worked two shows, I was guaranteed at least $400 a day.”
Davis, 57, reminisced this week about the entertainment venues and the customers they drew for StreetWise vendors like him before the coronavirus pandemic shut them down. He has been selling the Chicago newsmagazine, which provides a source of work and income for people experiencing homelessness or other financial difficulties, for 19 years. He knows the business—or at least he did.
But those guarantees are no more, thanks to COVID-19.
“With the pandemic, it’s like you have to count pennies—make sure you don’t spend this to take care of that because you never know,” Davis said.
Davis now relies on his Postmates job with an assist from StreetWise (with food and stimulus money) to help him pay his $600 monthly rent in Englewood.
Fewer workers coming to the Loop means fewer people buying the StreetWise publication, so the nonprofit—part of an international network of street papers—is finding new ways to help vendors such as Davis stay afloat. The organization has pivoted to be solely online during the pandemic, said CEO Julie Youngquist. Instead of selling physical copies, vendors are out promoting digital sales and connecting with customers through laminated placards posted on or around their usual selling site.
Customers who see the sign can donate to their specific vendor through the Venmo app (@Streetwise) using the vendor’s badge number, or by subscribing online to do the same and receive the publication digitally. Vendors then come into the StreetWise office to pick up their donated money.
As the COVID-19 outbreak worsened, StreetWise launched a fundraising campaign March 18 in anticipation of a spike in layoffs.
“It is very precarious for many of these women and men who have come back from episodes of homelessness,” Youngquist said. “They are on the fringes, and not making $200 a week is the difference between sleeping in a (single-room occupancy) room for a week or sleeping on the street or asking to do some couch surfing. So we’re really holding on tight.”
Lawrence Anthony, 65, is homeless and has been selling StreetWise on and off since 1994. For the past two years, he has been selling the publication six days a week on the corner of Jackson Boulevard and Dearborn Street, in front of the Monadnock Building. A good day for him typically meant he pocketed $100 to $110.
He’s nervous about selling papers these days because he has existing health conditions and hasn’t been tested for COVID-19. But he has to eat, Anthony said, so he may as well sell. But his bottom line has been hit hard.
“Since everything has been closed down in the Loop, I’m lucky if I make $25,” he said. “It’s bad. I’ve never seen anything like this before.
“And just because you have regular customers, that doesn’t mean that you’re going to get something. You just have to be patient.”
Despite the downturn in cash flow, Anthony said he thinks the pandemic has helped bring out people’s humane side. Vendor Gregg Cole, 56, agreed.
Cole said that since the stay-at-home order was put in place, he has actually “been able to get ahead,” selling StreetWise in Lincoln Square on weekdays, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., since December.
“I’ve been very fortunate that I’m in an area that still has moving traffic,” he said. “The neighborhood has taken care of me very well. Customers have shown me a lot of love, and I don’t take them for granted.”
Vendor Keith Hardiman, 58, said he has been selling StreetWise on Lake Street and Michigan Avenue for a decade, and while it has been really hard for the past two months, he has put up a poster with his face on it to let customers know he’s still here—and still in need of help.
StreetWise has helped him keep a roof over his head, Hardiman said, and when he doesn’t have anything to eat he can go to the nonprofit’s new State Street office and pick up some food.
Efforts to provide for the needs of StreetWise vendors are ongoing, Youngquist said. Because the nonprofit merged with the YWCA Metropolitan Chicago in March, a grant is available for vendors to do 2020 Census outreach, she said. But no date has been set on when that will happen.
“That will be a first opportunity—like a first get-back-to-work opportunity, where maybe (vendors) aren’t selling magazines but maybe this is a replacement source of revenue,” Youngquist said.
Until then, Hardiman is praying every day will be a good day.
“Everybody is just a paycheck away from being where I’m at,” he said. “Things are getting hard for everybody. And if they were hard for people that were working, think how hard it is for those out there in the streets to survive.”
