The Sidewalk Vending Collaborative for Health, Safety, and Economic Mobility (“Street Vending”) project aims to close gaps in financial opportunity and mobility for predominantly informal segment of the regional economy - workers engaged in sidewalk vending. Steet vendors continue to organize and seek legal pathways for their economic livelihoods despite facing pre-pandemic economic instability, challenges in legal status and English proficiency and access to information and resources, and incidents of harassment and violence. The population of employees and business owners engaged in the Sidewalk Vending sector predominantly represent BIPOC, limited English proficient and undocumented individuals, who also experienced higher rates of hospitalizations, deaths, unemployment, and loss of revenue due to the pandemic. More specifically Latino populations, who represent a large portion of the sidewalk vending economy, were disproportionally impacted by COIVD-19 comprising 46.4% of positive COVID-19 cases during the peak of the pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic increased the economic vulnerability of the community and led to worsened financial stability during the recovery.
Through this project, we will identify inclusive, sustainable, and legally viable operating models for this economic sector, identify gaps in education, resources, and support needed for compliance, and foster healthy relationships between brick-and-mortar businesses, residents, and sidewalk vendors. This project builds on the County’s initial efforts prompted by SB946 which decriminalized many of the activities of sidewalk vending and allows local jurisdictions to create regulation, permitting and an infrastructure to formalize the sidewalk vending industry. Through the development of services that align with the nuances of the sidewalk vending sector including the creation of a County ordinance providing regulation, protections and permitting we remove the institutional barriers for entrepreneurship and increase viability of financial stability achieved by BIPOC, LEP and undocumented individuals that seek to participate in sidewalk vending marketplace economy.
This project will create a platform for ongoing dialogue with street vendors to elevate their experiences, challenges, and commitments to the greater LA region. In partnership with community-based organizations that work closely with street vendors, we will establish a County Street Vending Ordinance with the Board of Supervisors and a County-led permitting process that will provide a legal pathway to street vending, launch a marketing and outreach campaign with technical assistance to provide vendors with information and support related to this ordinance and public health and safety regulations, and create and provide access to affordable code compliant food carts. Across the lifespan of this project, we will engage 5,000 street vendors from historically underserved, marginalized, and COVID-19 impacted groups with information as well as support 500 new permits and distribution of 200 code complaint carts and establish a framework that can support all countywide street vendors in a more formal and vibrant street vending economy.