GroundCover is joining street
papers across the globe, as well as
sister papers in Detroit and Tra-
verse City, to celebrate Interna-
tional Vendor Appreciation Week
Feb 3 through 10. The annual
celebration commemorates over
9,000 street newspaper vendors
worldwide.
GroundCover is a local news-
paper sold and written by low-
income and homeless people in
Washtenaw County. GroundCov-
er vendors buy newspapers as in-
dependent contractors of the non-
profit to sell to pedestrians in Ann
Arbor and neighboring locations.
Susan Beckett, publisher of
GroundCover News, started the
company nine years ago when
she saw a need in the community
after the 2008 recession. In the
past, GroundCover has celebrated
International Vendors Apprecia-
tion Week by inviting community
members to open houses or selling
newspapers with local communi-
ty and government members. This
year, Beckett says, they decided to
try a different approach.
“As we were planning for this
week this year, a couple vendors
said that they want to celebrate
by spreading awareness about
the city paper and showing the
community to know that selling
GroundCover is legitimate work,”
Beckett said.
Lit Kurtz, who lost her teaching
job in Detroit during a large layoff
of approximately 4,000 teachers
in 2012, discovered GroundCover
after she was evicted from her
house and left without perma-
nent housing.
Kurtz saw this vending op-
portunity as a business introduc-
tion and potential for financial
growth. Since 2014, she has been
writing and selling Ground-
Cover newspapers, and has been
vocal about how this industry
has changed her life. Kurtz says
there are difficulties in securing
a job when permanent housing
is unavailable, and GroundCov-
er gives work to persons in the
midst of housing issues.
“When you are living home-
less or without conventional
housing, you’re living without
access to showers, laundry, stor-
age, which means you can’t al-
ways be presentable as you’d like
for a job interview or for holding
down a mainstream job,” Kurtz
said. “So GroundCover meets
you where you’re at — on the
street — and puts something in
your hands that you can sell to
the public.”
Kevin Spangler, owner and
founder of Boober Tours, a local
pedicab service that works with
recovering drug addicts, was a
vendor for GroundCover News
before he molded their business
model into his own local vending
service.
Spangler believes in a second-
chance job philosophy, providing
work for those who may not be
able to obtain work because of
their personal history. Spangler
also provides programs for recov-
ering employees to enroll in, and
says vending services give produc-
tive opportunities to people strug-
gling in the community.
“I think the vendor’s impor-
tance is that we are contributing
something positive to the commu-
nity,” Spangler said. “We are pro-
viding a positive newspaper and
we’re not just asking people for
money. We’re at the level of trying
to get back on our feet. Same thing
with Boober Tours — I structured
my business like GroundCover,
creating a second-chance job for
people in recovery.”
Hussain Ali, LSA senior and
president of Michigan Move-
ment — a student organization
focused on providing aid and
relief to people experiencing
homelessness in Ann Arbor and
Washtenaw County — has been
working to spread awareness
about GroundCover.
Ali says GroundCover adds
an important aspect to the com-
munity, and provides meaningful
content to the community while
simultaneously creating cohesion
among the public.
2A — Thursday, February 7, 2019
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
The Black Sheep Michigan
@blacksheep_um
I hope today’s the day I break
my ass on the diag for free
tuition.
Bailey Stein
@BaileyStein1
ok but how about keeping us
logged in to canvas for more than
three hours at a time?
Kanen Storr
@kstorr_65kg
Had the coolest feeling today at
practice when I hit a wall and the
entire team started cheering me on
and encouraging me to keep pushing
and get better.
.nyne.
@enyned
Umich must think the buildings
don’t need heat anymore. It’s 50
degrees but it ain’t summertime
Dr. Mark Schlissel
@DrMarkSchlissel
Talent is everywhere in our society,
but opportunity is not. Family
income should never stand in the
way of students seeking quality
#HigherEducation.
Michigan Men’s Basketball
@umichbball
Head coach @JohnBeilein now holds the
record for most Big Ten wins at Michigan
with 121, surpassing Johnny Orr.
WOLVE RINE OF THE WE E K
ALEC COHEN/Daily
Why do you think it is important
to give students a platform to
share their ideas?
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believe that everyone
has an idea worth
expressing. Our 1000
Pitches competition
challenges students to
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formulate a solution.
That type of creativity
and confidence is what
makes U-M students
the leaders and best
and 1000 Pitches is
proud to play a part in
cultivating that culture
on campus.”
Engineering senior and president of
MPowered Michael Kovalcik
TUESDAY:
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Behind the Story
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Twitter Talk
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This Week in History
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THURSDAY:
Twitter Talk
Street Vendor Appreciation Week begins
GroundCover celebrates work to aid low income people through distribution of news publication
CATHERINE NOUHAN
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