In early February, students from Central City’s Los Angeles School of Global Studies came to 826LA’s Echo Park writing lab to write true stories about street vending in Los Angeles. These narratives were based on interviews the students did with neighborhood street vendors. Before coming to 826LA, the LASGS students had already laid the groundwork for their narratives by meeting and speaking with different street vendors in their community. This is part of a project by LASGS students to raise awareness of the legal and economic challenges that everyday street vendors face on the streets of Los Angeles. In the writing lab, 826LA volunteers worked with the students on shaping and polishing their writing pieces, which focused on the legal and economic problems that drive people to work as street vendors in Los Angeles.

Most students wrote from the perspective of the straight vendor to give a more intimate portrait. For example, one student wrote about Martha from El Salvador who sells homemade food to support her family. However, like most of the street vendors interviewed, she must deal with the police–who will fine or destroy vending carts if they catch them selling on the streets. Street vendors also have to deal with local gangs who may demand a “rent” in order to sell their goods on a particular street or just rob them outright. Another vendor named Omar came to the United States from Mexico because his government job as an accountant in Mexico did not pay enough to cover the cost of a housing mortgage. His only choice was to come to the US to look for a better-paying job.

The LASGS students’ work will soon be published in a book entitled Giving Voice to the Voiceless and will be presented to the Los Angeles City Council as part of an advocacy project to legalize street vending. These stories were already displayed on February 19 at the Autry National Center event “Giving Voice to the Voiceless” as art projects, and they’re currently on display. 826LA is thrilled to be working with LASGS students on this amazing project and we look forward to seeing where their hard work takes them and the street vendors they wrote about.

You can read more about this project via KCET.