The Denver Voicea free monthly magazine that provides employment to the homeless through an accessible supplier program will be closed for at least a month due to a lack of funds, according to a message on his Facebook page Friday afternoon.
The newspaper’s management hopes the closure will be temporary.
“Due to a continued lack of funds, we are unable to pay our staff, cover our expenses, or continue to support our vendor program,” the message reads in part. “If our situation changes over the next month, we will notify everyone by posting an update on our social media platforms.”
The newspaper, which has an office at 989 Sante Fe Drive in Denver, has been in operation since 1996 and continuously since 2007. The paper was founded as a grassroots newspaper founded by homeless people for homeless people, according to its website.
Are supplier program has given people living on the streets, facing the loss of their homes or simply in need of an immediate income, the opportunity to operate as their own “micro-businesses,” according to a description on its website.
New sellers were given 10 free papers to start with. The company recommended selling each copy for $2 each. Once the first 10 were sold, a salesman could return to the Voice office and buy as many copies of the monthly newspaper as he wanted, for 50 cents each, and then sell them at whatever price he wanted to set, keeping the profit he made. The newspaper estimates that 4,000 people have worked as voice providers over the years.
“We appreciate our donors, volunteers, donors and staff who make Denver VOICE the program that it has been,” Friday’s Facebook post reads. “Most importantly, we are grateful to our vendors and hope to find a way to continue to provide a low-barrier income opportunity to those who have come to depend on the sale of the newspaper.”
A voicemail and email asking for more information about the closure were not immediately returned Friday afternoon.
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