big issue history

1. THE HISTORY OF THE BIG ISSUE
By EmilyWoollin

2. ORIGIN AND PURPOSE
The big issue was founded in 1991 by John Bird and Gordon Roddick as a way to
tackle the increasing issue with homelessness in both NewYork and London. Both
believed that the way to solve this problem was to help people help themselves. By
selling their magazine for cheap, this allowed homeless people to purchase their
magazine and became vendors by selling it at their own price and pocketing the
profit.

3. TEAM BUILDING
As the magazine was set to launch in September 1991, bird had to quickly build a
team to put together and create the first issue, he recruited young, keen individuals
and offered them a daily wage to get the job started.They all worked in a tiny office
with barely any space to move, they worked hard to produce magazines and by
1993 the big issue was being produced and sold weekly.

4. VENDORS
Vendors of the magazine spread overseas and they even had editions being
established and spread in Scotland and wales. By 1995, the big issue foundation
was created to support the vendors and link them with vital help and advice that
they may need, this offered additional support as the profit of the magazine wasn’t
always enough to thrive from.

5. NEW BEGINNING
In 2001, the magazine sold nearly 300,000 copies but between 2007-2011 this
number gradually declined to less than 125,000 as competition between vendors
increased.To battle this decline, the magazine was relaunched and remodelled in
2012 and the cover price was increased (now a magazine is bought for £1.25 and
sold for £2.50) this meant vendors became entrepreneurs who are working and not
begging.

6. HELPING HAND
In 2015, over 2000 vendors achieved secure levels of personal outcome and this
showed the strong effect of the big issue and its foundation, Ultimately the big
issue has managed to better the lives of those who are homeless.