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The Oklahoma City Council heard proposed loosening of regulations to an anti-panhandling ordinance on Tuesday. The American Civil Liberties Union of Oklahoma has an existing lawsuit over the ordinance, saying it violated the 1st and 14th amendments.

The ordinance impacts the ability of Curbside Chronicle vendors to earn money. The street newspaper helps homeless people build a work history and lift themselves out of homelessness.

It was nearly 90 degrees when Marquise Benningfield started work on a steamy July morning. Like many people who work in the hot Oklahoma summers, he put on a hat to shield himself from the sun. However, Benningfield doesn’t roof houses or pave roads, he sells magazines trying to lift himself out of homelessness.

Benningfield was 21 years old when his mom sent him from his home in Tulsa to a ministry in Oklahoma City in an effort to help him overcome a drug problem. “My mom thought it was like a rehab. So she sent me, but it really is like a ministry where you work for free,” he said. Because he didn’t receive treatment, Benningfield’s drug problem persisted, and he was kicked out of the ministry, leaving him homeless.

He had to learn how to survive on the streets for the first time in a new city. “I was in a tent in the woods majority of the time. You have to move a lot because when they get wind of where you’re at, they tend to move you around. I did that a lot.”

Benningfield also started panhandling to try to make money, but after a few months he found out about Oklahoma’s street newspaper, The Curbside Chronicle and met with director Ranya O’Connor. “The role of the magazine is to employ and empower individuals experiencing homeless,” O’Connor said.

Keep reading or listen to the story featured on NPR and KOSU Radio here.