Ms. Youngquist, the new Executive Director of the Streetwise organization, gave the club an update on the various programs and initiatives that the organization is embarking upon. 

 

There is currently an average of approximately 150 vendors each month selling Streetwise Magazine on the streets of Chicago and neighboring communities.  Approximately one hundred individuals are also in the organization’s employment assistance program. 

 

More than 400 people use various social services provided by Streetwise, including housing and legal assistance.  Although most vendors are not homeless, the money earned through the sale of magazines is a necessity for filling the financial gaps left by other forms of income such as odd jobs and unemployment assistance.  For many other vendors, selling magazines is their sole source of employment.

 

The food cart program, which was a collaboration with another agency (since disbanded) is being reevaluated, with the hope that carts will be deployed more strategically to address the food desert landscape in Chicago.

 

Although food, medical, employment, and legal assistance continue to be major concerns for the vendors and clients of Streetwise, the biggest challenge in Chicago today is the extreme lack of affordable housing.  While Streetwise was once able to make direct placements of its clients into housing, it is now only able to make referrals to shelters and to put clients on long wait lists for affordable housing.

 

Streetwise is endeavoring to create more partnerships with universities, government agencies, and medical providers to create a more seamless approach to social services for its clients.  Moving the Streetwise headquarters to Uptown has also badly disadvantaged the vendors, most of whom travel long commutes from the west and south sides of Chicago, only to then travel great distances again to reach their sales territory.