Talk 4 Hunger Deplotment Strategies

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Permalink Reply by Greg Rollett on March 9, 2009 at 5:57pm

After having our 1st organizational meeting: here is the breakdown of responsibilities for Talk 4 Hunger. Please let Greg or Chris know ASAP if you are unable to achieve these goals and tasks.

Legal - Lisa
Liaison with police and city, establish contact with city and inquires about existing ordinances, including but not limited to panhandling.

Organizational - Chris
Training, recruiting sales representatives and organizing the internal database

Finance / Accounting - Patrick
Inventory, Accounting Template and Internal Cash Flow from Sales

Logistical - Maria
Badges, uniforms and creative

Distribution - Logan
Where to distribute, storage, pick up and drop off

Director of Launch Committee - Greg
Oversee committee, communication between committee members and role player

Please report back on this thread ASAP. Deadlines and assignments will come from Greg on Tuesday, March 10th.

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Permalink Reply by Greg Rollett on March 10, 2009 at 9:45am

This is from Logan:

I just got off of the phone with the President of Streetwise (Chicago) and Sean, the founder of the Homeless Voice. A lot was learned:

* We MUST talk with law enforcement and city counsel in advance. They have to be aware of our vendors. Otherwise, we will be royally "fucked" over (As Sean put it).
* Read over the list of Orlando ordinances. Each county will be different and host a different headache for selling: http://www.municode.com/resources/gateway.asp?pid=13349&sid=9
* Find out if panhandling is legal, frowned upon or accepted in Orlando.
* You don't need any permits when selling a newspaper. Newspapers are protected, just as long as they feature some sort of journalism within.
* Every vendor is going to need a badge. This is to verify that they are an authorized distributor and not someone collecting papers and trying to re-sell them for profit. Law enforcement (and customers) will check, and rightfully so. This is a good thing.
* Streetwise uses Microsoft Access to maintain all of their information and vendor database.

The biggest eye opener was finding out that the Homeless Voice tried to distribute in Orlando several years ago. Sean said they had trouble with cops and the drug problems of vendors. They had to shut it down within a few months. He said he has tried to continue taking it statewide and still releases issues every so often in areas like Jacksonville and St. Pete. Right now, he is actually looking to get back into Orlando. This raises the question of whether or not we should be the main distributor of an already established paper or deal with the headaches ourselves. He claims that they spend $8,000 a month just on printing (they circulate 100,000 copies). He offered to work with us by having us become the Orlando dealer of the paper.

At the same time, as soon as we launch, Sean will not try to compete with us. There would be no point. We just have to tell him what we want to do so he can work with us or help us along the way.

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Permalink Reply by Logan Lenz on March 13, 2009 at 3:58pm

Here is all of my work that is due today:

- Finding a core of 5-10 places to sell the paper:
I NEED THE PAPER IN ORDER TO TRY TO DO THIS. ARE THEY AT THE OFFICE? UNFORTUNATELY, I HAVEN'T HAD MUCH TIME TO LOOK INTO DOING THAT THIS WEEK.

- A location for vendors to pick up and drop off the papers:
WE DEFINITELY SHOULD ENABLE THESE TRANSACTIONS ON MONDAY NIGHT DURING THE FEEDINGS. IN THE CASE THAT THEY WILL NEED MORE DURING THE MIDDLE OF THE WEEK, WE DEFINITELY DO NEED A DEDICATED LOCATION FOR THEM TO GO TO. THIS IS TOUGH. WHO WILL BE FACILITATING IT? HOW CAN WE TRUST THAT PERSON? WHAT IS A CENTRAL LOCATION? I'M THINKING THAT WE ARE GOING TO NEED MULTIPLE LOCATIONS ACROSS THE AREA - PERHAPS THE STORES WE RECRUIT?

- A Storage Location for Everything:
FOR NOW, THE ENDAGON OFFICES ARE IDEAL FOR THIS.

- Work with Chris to figure out the legalities of distribution points:
I WILL EMAIL CHRIS NOW TO START FIGURING THIS OUT. IN A PERFECT WORLD, I WOULD LIKE TO SEE A VENDOR ON CENTRAL AND ORANGE, CHURCH ST., ROSALIND AND PINE, EOLA AND PINE, THORNTON PARK, AMWAY ARENA... ILL THINK OF MORE.

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Permalink Reply by Chris Goyzueta on March 19, 2009 at 12:34am

Leeanne of NOMSA is going to take care of Recruitment, and Lisa and I are teaming up on Legal.

I talked to Sean from the Homeless Voice today, and found out a lot of info on the legal aspect:
1.) We don't need a permit or license to sell the papers
2.) We are protected by Amendment 1 to freely sell papers that are opinionated - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Amendment_to_the_United_States_C...
3.) He said that the case of "Sun Sentinel vs. the City of Ft. Lauderdale" will help us, since it passed throughout the state that papers can be sold on the street.
4.) We need to start building partnerships with the police, city officials, congressmen, etc. and gain their support with Talk 4 Hunger.
5.) Cops may say we are panhandling, but again, we are selling opinionated journalism which is protected by Amendment 1 in the United States constitution.
6.) We need to find an attorney who will back us up with pro-bono work or a newly graduated law student who will work for pennies.

- I plan on going to the Police Department on Friday or Monday next week in Downtown to talk to them. Maria has a contact there as well.
- Lisa knows a lady that is in Orange County office I belive? She is going to talk to her, and get her interested.
- I think we should reach out to Alan Grayson, and some of the state legislature in the Downtown district and gain their support in this project // streetwise in Chicago has a congressman on their Board of Directors
- Maybe get support by the Coalition, Salvation Army, etc. We should at least reach out to them, and tell them this service is available

Did ya'll know there was going to be such a legal struggle? :)

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