One of the cool things I discovered this past Saturday at Media Democracy Day is Megaphone, a Vancouver street paper sold by low-income and homeless vendors that provides a voice for people on the Downtown Eastside.

Street papers are a growing movement. According to Sean Condon, Editor-in Chief of Megaphone, there are over 100 street papers worldwide. The first was created in New York in 1989 when someone came up with the idea of printing a paper to be sold by homeless people as a means of employment. It worked and now there are a number of street papers all over the world in both developed and developing countries that not only provide employment to low-income and homeless individuals, but also frequently provide them with a voice.