A hand up, not a hand out

You cannot walk the streets of any major city in Britain today without spotting The Big Issue. The magazine has emerged as one of the most important initiatives in the battle against the growing crisis of homelessness. Editor John Bird, a cradle Catholic, suggests that his magazine is not just another hand out.
AiT THE TIME OF The Big Issue's second birthday received an interesting letter. Sold by homeless people our magazine was becoming a prominent feature on the streets of London and other major UK cities.
My correspondent although recognising our increasing success on the streets was upset.
And unless I could supply her with an acceptable answer to her reason for being upset she would become an ex-reader.
Her beef centred on her opinion that The Big Issue was a con affected upon the general public by our vendors.
For unlike many other "charitable" endeavours the monies collected by The Big Issue vendor did not go into a general pool for distribution to the needy. She was affronted by the idea that Big Issue vendors were doing it for the money. That each and every vendor was actually working and earning the money for themselves.
They were not in the best charitable tradition of collecting money for others.
Since the late 19th century it has become a part of street life to be accosted in the best possible sense by people who are (or claim to be) collecting money for the less fortunate.
Innumerable charities have raised money by putting people on the streets to collect charitable donations. The monies accrued are pooled and then distributed.
My correspondent was under the impression that The Big Issue ought to do more of the same.
Alas The Big Issue was not created on such a time
honoured tradition. Our vendors were helping themselves by earning their own money and this flew in the face of my correspondent's belief that this was not how it should be done.
The Big Issue is nothing original. We took the idea from New York where Street News had been helping people with some degree of success to help themselves. By selling the paper and earning their own living they were elevated above the traditional hand out culture.
It was an alternative to begging and other ways of harvesting the streets. We went a stage further.
We developed a social initiative. Not content with only supplying a means of gaining an income. We developed writing workshops, a social support team and a housing team.
We put people on courses and started to employ the homeless in helping run and develop The Big Issue. And in the process we affected a change in the lives of hundreds of homeless people.
We have also tried to make the magazine a good read. If people only bought The Big Issue because they pitied the homeless vendor then the transaction would be little better than a hidden handout.
Of course we can avoid carrying out charitable acts. A lot of our activities by definition are the kind of things done by charities.
But we recognised that we had to first empower homeless people through their own actions. First give people the chance to gain in self esteem and then you are in a position to support their further requirements.
Give homeless people a sense of their own power and they are on the road to integrating back into society. Keep them dependent and you will always leave them waiting for the next "Hand Out".
Not that we haven't made mistakes in ate process. We have helped people off the streets only to find them back there soon after.
It is not enough to give the homeless accommodation.
You have to help them face up to the reasons why they ended up on the streets in the first place.
Homelessness is a blight on society. It is a continuing problem and its causes are myriad. When someone has become homeless it is often for a range of reasons.
It is not only because they have lost the roof over their head. Often they carry the baggage of abuse, poor education and problems of motivation. And once on the streets the problems are compounded.
What we have tried to do in The Big Issue is give a hand up and not a hand out. If we can help the homeless to help themselves the way is laid open to help those who are less able.
By removing those who can be helped we take them out of the homeless equation. Charity is essential but self help is not a bad way of ensuring that you are not creating dependency, often with the best of intentions.
We have come a long way since our second birthday. Our social initiative grows in importance daily.
And the example of The Big Issue has led to a Scottish edition as well as a sister paper in Paris. In Germany and Italy street papers based on the Big Issue thrive.
So next time you see a Big Issue vendor remember that they are doing it for themselves.
And by doing it for themselves they allow charities to assist those unfortunate enough not able to help themselves.