Business

The Big Issue Helps Women in Need

Social enterprise The Big Issue is calling on corporate Australia to join a campaign to support homeless and disadvantaged women by subscribing to its magazine.

10502156_10152560123734939_880227906755226675_nSocial enterprise The Big Issue is calling on corporate Australia to join a campaign to support homeless and disadvantaged women by subscribing to its magazine.

The Big Issue will launch The Big 100 campaign in Melbourne today (4 August), coinciding with Homeless Persons’ Week. The campaign asks 100 companies to each take out 10 or more subscriptions to The Big Issue magazine, providing jobs for women in need. The women sort and pack subscription magazines for dispatch, giving them an income, support and access to mentoring and further training.

“For every 100 subscriptions sold, we can employ one woman through our distribution centres,” The Big Issue spokeswoman Emma O’Halloran said.
“Our aim is to generate 1000 subscriptions through the campaign, allowing us to employ 10 vulnerable women.”

Since 1996, The Big Issue magazine has been sold on the streets by homeless and disadvantaged people who keep half of the $6 cover price from each sale.
The Women’s Subscription Enterprise was established in 2010 to give women who are unable to sell the magazine on the street – including those escaping domestic violence or caring for young children – an alternative income through the magazine.

“We know there are some 46,000 women homeless in Australia on any given night,” Ms O’Halloran said. “As part of Homeless Persons’ Week, we are asking corporate Australia to make a difference by supporting a simple solution that can change the lives of marginalised women.”

Organisations including BHP Billiton, NAB and People’s Choice Credit Union already subscribe to The Big Issue and are getting behind the campaign. Representatives from more than 20 companies will roll up their sleeves and pack Big Issue magazines alongside women from the enterprise as part of the campaign launch this morning.

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