You’ve seen them selling papers on street corners all across Chicago. You might buy a $2 paper every now and then. You may have even gotten to know Greg, the vendor who sells papers on the corner of Fullerton and Sheffield near DePaul’s Lincoln Park campus. They are the vendors of StreetWise, a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising awareness about poverty in Chicago.

StreetWise, Inc. now has the chance to make even more money than the small profit they make from the $2 papers. The organization has been selected as one of 196 nonprofit organizations in the country to participate in the Chase Community Giving program, sponsored by Chase Bank, and they need your vote.         

Those interested in supporting StreetWise in this competition can vote on the Chase Community Giving page on Facebook. If you have a Chase online account, you can also vote at www.ChaseGiving.com. If StreetWise receives the most votes, they will receive a grant of $250,000.       

“We are excited about our friends supporting us in the Chase Community Giving campaign so we can continue our mission to raise people out of poverty and into stable employment,” said StreetWise Executive Director Jim LoBianco.          

If they win the competition, StreetWise will use the money to increase the hot meals program in Streetwise Caf’ÛΩ, upgrade the computers in the Workforce Empowerment Center so participants can have an easy time creating r’ÛΩsum’ÛΩs and search for jobs, and expand the many social services StreetWise offers to get participants the help they need.          

“Voting with Chase Community Giving helps to energize the vast number of supporters of so many great causes,” said Kimberly B. Davis, president of the JPMorgan Chase Foundation. “At Chase, we are excited to lead local and national causes in finding a voice and raising awareness and critical funding for their work in communities.”         

Voting will end Sept. 19. The winners will be announced Sept. 20.