The street vendor campaign touches on social and racial justice issues, workers rights, and the shifting of power dynamics by putting disenfranchised people at the table with decision makers to shape policy that supports them and decriminalizes poverty. This project was a collaborative effort between the East Los Angeles Community Corporation (ELACC), 826LA, and the LA School of Global Studies (LASGS) to capture the stories of LA street vendors.
ELACC organizers trained high school students at LASGS on how to conduct interviews with street vendors across the city and to build relationships with those vendors. The students canvassed hundreds of vendors in LA and authored those vendors' stories into a narrative. Each chapter of the book was written by a student. Lifting up the story of the vendors is critical to humanizing the debate around street vending and putting a face to the struggle that thousands of Angelenos disregard subconsciously on a daily basis.
