I distinctly remember one particular moment during the first weekend I was in Nashville while my parents were helping me move in: my parents were staying at my aunt's house about an hour away from Nashville. After the first night, they met me for lunch where they informed me, in a slightly concerned tone, that a man had come up to the car window asking for money on their drive to meet me. We were in a completely new place with little understanding of the culture or social norms, and based on our past experiences, this moment was out of the ordinary and truly uncomfortable. My immediate thoughts included, "great, that is going to be annoying," and "that's a little scary." Goodbye, small town State College. Hello, big city Nashville!
Since that experience, I have learned about The Contributor; it is Nashville's street paper, and the #1 street paper in the country. It is quite commonplace to pass a vendor at most high traffic intersections throughout the city limits of Nashville. This job opportunity is run out of Downtown Presbyterian Church, in the heart of downtown Nashville. A group of volunteers work with the vendors to assure a safe, legal, and respected institution is in place.
Vendors must sign up to be part of the program that puts out two editions of the paper each month, which was recently increased from a single paper per month. The articles in The Contributor are written primarily by the vendors themselves, which increases the sense of ownership in the producing and selling. Papers are bought for $.25 and sold for $1.00 by established vendors. They are able to buy any number of papers based on their typical selling rate. If a vendor is able to sell 300 papers in a month then he or she is granted exclusive access to an intersection of his or her choosing, as long as it has not already been claimed. These workers will stand at the intersection from dawn until dusk or whatever it takes to sell enough papers. From my experience, they have such amazing attitudes and drive to be successful. Many of the Contributor vendors are formerly homeless people because they are able to make enough money selling papers to pay rent on an apartment, as well as buy groceries. This business is many peoples jobs, a job of which they are extremely proud.
A movie about The Contributor debuted a few weeks ago at The Nashville Film Festival where they had to move the screening to a larger theater due to such a high demand for tickets. I was lucky enough to see the film, Street Paper, which followed a select few vendors through the ups and downs, beginnings and ends, and successes and failures. Each person had a enriching story to tell, and relied heavily on The Contributor to sustain a living. Most vendors have 'regulars' whom drive through the same intersection often and come to know their vendors. Many Nashville residents will keep water, food, clothes, etc in their cars to provide to a vendor in need, as well. I am glad I have learned more about The Contributor as well as the people behind the paper. I am proud of the business that provides an opportunity for people to find success.
