Wrap Up Homelessness 2020

During the holiday season later this year, the sheets of The Cleveland Street Chronicle will be replaced with sheets of holiday wrapping paper that will be designed by Street Chronicle vendors and other local homeless artists. The Cleveland Street Chronicle is an initiative of the Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless. The paper is published quarterly and it is written, purchased, and sold by people with lived experience of homelessness. 

The purpose of the Wrap Up Homelessness 2020 project is to creatively help people with lived experience of homelessness earn an income during the holidays while celebrating the creative spirit of homeless artists in Cleveland. The special wrapping paper edition will serve as a sustainable use of a recycled product and it will provide a unique opportunity for homeless and formerly homeless vendors to earn extra cash during the holidays.

• Recruit homeless artists in Cleveland to facilitate several art workshops to create wrapping paper designs
• Purchase supplies and hold art workshops throughout the early fall
• Vendors of the Street Chronicle will vote on artwork and artists will receive stipends for any artwork selected
• Plan and implement a social media campaign and identify stores in the community that can serve as wrapping paper sales locations
• Print the Street Chronicle Wrap Up Homelessness 2020 edition in mid-November!

Given the traumatic experience of homelessness, people with lived experience often feel disenfranchised by an economic system that is not suited to account for the many barriers that come from experiencing homelessness. Few economic opportunities that are entrepreneurial in nature exist for people who are struggling to survive or maintain housing. Wrap Up Homelessness 2020 seeks to provide a creative economic opportunity for people with lived experience to either contribute artistically to The Cleveland Street Chronicle or make earned income by buying and selling the holiday wrapping paper during the winter months.