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Thousands of free meals: With help from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation’s $100 million COVID-19 relief effort, the Urban Justice Center has paid over 90 vendors to donate free meals to food-insecure residents of the city, reported The Huffington Post.
- Around 18,780 meals have been distributed at locations in Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx since August 2020.
- Yue-Huan Jiang, who was forced to close her food truck due to the pandemic, was one of the vendors who prepared free meals in March.
- “I sincerely thank this program for making it possible for me and my family to have some income as well as a chance to help our community,” Jiang was quoted as saying.
Educating vendors: In addition to providing financial and legal support, SVP also helps teach vendors about their legal rights and responsibilities.
- In February, SVP rolled out its Small Business Consultation Program to help struggling vendors, Eater reported.
- SVP announced on its official Twitter account that it will provide “tools, resources & skills [for vendors] to grow their business, so they are empowered to make business decisions that will help them succeed.”
Impacting change: SVP now has over 2,000 vendor members working together to create a positive change for the community, according to Urban Justice.
- To help even more vendors, the organization set up a GoFundMe campaign for its Street Vendor COVID-19 Emergency Fund, which has raised over $160,000 as of this writing.
- The campaign’s description noted that 90% of the SVP’s members are “low-wage immigrant workers who rely on busy streets in order to survive day to day.”
- “Without a safety net to fall back on, they are forced to continue to work, risking their health and well-being in the process,” Urban Justice wrote.
Featured Image via Street Vendor Project
