In the street of Bucareli, in Mexico City, are the offices of the only magazine in the country that, for four years, not only offers opportunity to people of street populations to become sellers, but it gives them a space to become In photographers and writers.
This is the project “Mi Ensurer”, a Mexican publication that is part of the international network of Street Newspapers and magazines (INSP), which is present in 35 countries and 114 cities around the world, with the aim of providing options for Use of street populations and thereby improve their quality of life.
To become a “valeer”, it is enough to present itself in the number 69C of the street Bucareli, where each person is offered a brief training for the sale of the magazine and is given five copies, each one with a value of 20 pesos.
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After that first circulation, each salesman returns to the offices of my ticket, where he acquires each magazine in 5 pesos, which allows him to have a profit margin of 15 pesos per specimen.
Delphine Tomes, director of the social area of the project, explains that it is “a social model that goes against attendance because it believes that people have all the tools to get ahead by themselves.”
“We go all over the city offering work to street or excluded populations, who have no access to job opportunities, such as migrants, refugees, deportees, trans populations, single mothers, seniors, people with disabilities, Street populations and communities with very low socioeconomic status, “he adds.
The only requirements for them to become ensurers is that they are over 16 years old and that they go to the offices “in their five senses, because we work with some people who are struggling with their addictions, although it should be noted that we are not for Tell them to quit, because we’re not assistentialist. We only provide a space for them to look for other horizons, “says Delphine.
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In addition to providing job opportunities, my advocate offers nutrition workshops and social skills to those who are part of the project, “in order to improve their sales and life, so that at some point they can aspire to work in something more formal.”
The magazine, a portrait of everyday life in Mexico City, leaves two months and each number is dedicated to a particular theme, and they collaborate with different writers and photographers, and in each one the vouchers have the opportunity to publish texts and images of their authorship.
In fact, once a year a number with content 100% made by the vouchers is published.
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For Delphine, another reason why the project is important, is because it sensitizes the general public about the discrimination that lives the population that is part of my trustee, “and through the approach they have with them they can realize that They work and strive to get ahead, which gives them the chance to question their own prejudices. ”
Currently, my dealer has 30 constant vendors and 20 other “floating”, that is, they do not come to the offices in a constant way, and have as points of sale the Palace of Fine Arts, monument to the Revolution, the angel of Independence, Pushkin Garden, The Cibeles Fountain, Mexico Park, the Light Trail, among others, that can be consulted through its website.
If you are interested in supporting the project in an economical way, you can donate through the Global Giving platform, and to collaborate in the magazine or as a workshopist simply contact my supporter on your social networks or your website.
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