
One Step Away vendor Joe Albater.
(Screenshot via YouTube)
“Around the Corner” is a PhillyCAM show that offers local social impact leaders the opportunity to share what impact their work is having on the Philadelphia area.
If you live or work in Center City, you should know One Step Away’s story by now.
The street newspaper was founded by a group of homelessness advocates in December 2009. Much of the content is written by the vendors themselves — including Joe Albater, who has been a vendor since January and writes a monthly poem for the paper.
And though the paper has been around for almost eight years, Albater has noticed that some people who pass him while he’s selling at 15th and JFK still don’t understand its mission.
“A lot of people think that the [vendors] aren’t really homeless,” he told Generocity in an “Around the Corner” interview. “They don’t understand that they’re really helping people get their lives together.”
Hear more of his story below.
Also, this fall, One Step Away is expanding its reach beyond Center City by establishing teams of vendors in other neighborhoods around Philadelphia between now and December. Look out for pop-up launch parties announcing their presence — and take OSA’s community engagement survey to help shape their work in 2018.
Watch on YouTube
PhillyCAM is Comcast channel 66/966 HD/967 and Verizon FIOS channel 29/30 in Philadelphia.
-30-From our Partners
Hidden figures: Human services organizations’ clients are an inspiration
The protest encampments — and the housing crisis they represent — aren’t going away
How we use restorative justice in shelter
Generocity Philly
Inscripción Doble en Congreso: Lo que trae el futuro

City of Philadelphia, Rebuild
Director of Evaluation and Learning
Apply Now
JFCS of Greater Philadelphia
Youth Engagement Program Coordinator
Apply NowOrganizers and activists clash at the crossroads of Philly’s housing crisis
What homeless encampments can teach us about the state of nature
This is the view from within the encampment on the Parkway
Generocity Philly
Dual Enrollment at Congreso: Where does it go from here?
United Way of Greater Philadelphia & Southern New Jersey
Chief Knowledge Officer
Apply NowSign-up for daily news updates from Generocity
More Information