Evanston RoundTable, Jan. 10, 2024
Ewoynne Warren says life is getting better. “I’ve turned myself around,” he told me in an interview arranged by the not-for-profit magazine StreetWise. He has high hopes for the future and a team of people at local social service agencies looking out for his welbeing.
In many ways, though, it’s been a long and hard road. Born in 1969 in rural Mississippi, Warren (whose first name is pronounced E-won) dropped out of high school in 11th grade and was arrested in 1995 for selling crack cocaine and other drug-related charges. He was released from prison in March of 2021 and came to Evanston to be near his daughter.
“Pride got me in trouble,” he said of his youth. “Pride with the money, the jewelry, the nice clothes, the car. The money was coming in so fast.”
Now it comes in a few bucks at a time, selling $3 copies of StreetWise (for which he pays $1.15) at his two assigned locations: in front of Bennison’s Bakery, 1000 Davis St., and in front of Whole Foods, 1640 Chicago Ave.
‘I’m a good salesman’
On an average day he’ll work from 10 in the morning until 3 or 4 in the afternoon and clear at least $50, occasionally a lot more.
Sometimes people will give him a five and tell him to keep the change. A few times he’s been given a hundred-dollar bill. “One time last summer a guy jumps out of a Rolls Royce convertible and says, ‘Hey, isn’t it too hot to be out here today?’ He hands me a hundred dollars and says, ‘Is that enough to get you out of the sun for the day?” And I say, ‘Yes sir, I’ll close up now!” Other times passersby will give him the $3 but refuse the magazine, telling him to “resell it.”
He likes the work. “I’m a people person, and with StreetWise you meet all kinds of people. I’m a good salesman. I met a guy yesterday, a bank VP, we talked 15 minutes, he said, ‘If you need anything, just let me know’ and gave me his card.”
When not selling StreetWise, Warren works out at a fitness center on Howard Street and follows Chicago sports. He said of Connor Bedard, the Blackhawks’ 18-year-old rookie phenomenon: “That kid doesn’t know he has a fan base in the hood!”
‘I need a secure spot’
Warren was raised by his grandmother in Mississippi but moved to Maryland to be near his mom. She was heavily into drugs for many years, until she found God, he said. She passed away last February. He had little to do with his dad, who died three years ago.
In prison, “I got myself on the right track,” he said, taking classes and getting his high school equivalency diploma. A paintball accident on Halloween 2021 eventually cost him the sight of his right eye, which makes an office job difficult. Instead he spends 20 to 30 hours a week working his two posts in downtown Evanston. He wears badge #1053. His cousin, a StreetWise vendor on the north side of Chicago, introduced him to the job.
He remains homeless, sleeping during the winter in church shelters and in the summer at O’Hare Airport or on the el. Being homeless is “very, very stressful,” Warren said. “I need a secure spot where I can lay my head down.”
The Evanston social service agency Connections for the Homeless is helping him out, he said. Connections’ Nia Tavoularis, chief of development, told me, “Obviously we can’t share specific client information because all of that is confidential.” But she described the scope of their services as falling into three categories: eviction prevention programs; finding housing for people who qualify to rent in Evanston and elsewhere; and shelter programs.
For shelters, she said Connections partners with Interfaith Action of Evanston to provide cold-weather accommodations in churches and synagogues throughout the city, with amenities including showers, laundry facilities, clothing, a food pantry, sack lunches, phone charging stations, access to Wi-Fi and, importantly, case management help.
And of course, there’s also the longer-term shelter Margarita Inn at 1566 Oak Ave., which Connections purchased on Nov. 30.
‘An income with dignity’
StreetWise was started in Chicago in 1992, modeled after a similar magazine helping people in New York. The mission statement reads, in part: “StreetWise exists to elevate marginalized voices and provide opportunities for individuals to earn an income with dignity.”
There are currently around 130 vendors throughout the Chicago area, including in Wilmette, Winnetka and Glencoe, said Amanda Jones, StreetWise director of programs.
Vendors pick up their weekly magazines at the StreetWise office at 2009 S. State St. on Chicago’s South Side. “Vendors pay $1.15 per issue, they keep the difference,” Jones said. The minimum purchase is 20 magazines for $23, and a bundle of 100 is $115. Most people get 30 or 60, she said.
New vendors go through a one- to-two-hour orientation where they learn a code of conduct, protocols and sales tips. Prohibited behavior while selling StreetWise includes being high, working other people’s locations, badgering customers and panhandling. Vendors have to stay on public property, which means they can’t sell on the CTA, in the park district or on private property, said trainer A. Allen.
“We tell them they should sell according to their personality: ‘Make up your own sales pitch. But since StreetWise has been around so long, all they generally have to do is raise up the paper and say ‘StreetWise, get your StreetWise here,’” Allen said. “We’ve been around 31 years, so most people in Chicago know.
“Sometimes we get complaints about vendors misbehaving, or vendors with an ‘attitude,’ or men giving women a hard time, all of which is inappropriate,” he said. Infractions will generate a warning, then suspension, then termination. “It doesn’t happen too often,” he pointed out.
Warren’s dream
While in prison Warren spent time studying business, and now has dreams of starting a nonprofit he plans to call “Yu-Nek” (pronounced “unique”) to help “turn kids around.” He also wants to offer himself up as a public speaker, addressing young people about the dangers of bad behavior and about “how I’ve turned my life around in the last couple of years,” selling StreetWise and associating with good people.
“I’ve been down a lot of different roads,” he said. “These kids don’t know the outcome of what they’re doing, they don’t understand the consequences.”
It’s a lesson he’s tries to pass along. He cited a fight he broke up last summer between a white kid and a Black kid near the Skokie Public Library. “I told the Black kid, ‘It’s your pride that won’t let you stop fighting.’ The kid said, ‘Yeah, you’re right.’ You’ve got to take pride out of your life, it’ll get you in trouble, cost me 25 years of my life. Kids gotta understand, all this killing each other will just leave them in jail or dead. No one will be left. I have to tell them, ‘You’re the next generation.’”
“As soon as I have safe place,” he vows.
Now it looks like he might have one. Late last month he was hospitalized with a dangerously high blood pressure of 221 over 180. He was feeling awful – until he got a call from Connections that they had an apartment lined up for him in south suburban Country Club Hills. All that remains is to finish the paperwork.
“My blood pressure cleared right up!” he said.
Good news also for his many customers, friends and fans in Evanston: “I plan to commute to Evanston to continue selling StreetWise,” he told me. “It’s where I belong.”
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