Mexican rock band Maná to donate money from LA residency to support street vendors
LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- The legendary Mexican pop-rock band Maná announced that it will donate part of the proceeds from its concerts in Los Angeles to support Latino street vendors.
The video in the player above is from a previous report announcing additional concert dates in L.A. for Maná.
The donation will be directed toward the L.A. Street Vendor Campaign and Community Power Collective, and will serve as initial capital for the purchase of street vendor carts approved by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.
It was not immediately known how much money would be donated and how many carts would be purchased.
"Everywhere we go, Maná will continue to support our people and their dreams," said Fher Olvera, Maná's lead vocalist. "We are proud to support street vendors in Los Angeles by helping with the development of these carts that we hope will allow them to work, share our culture and support their families with dignity and without fear of being criminalized."
Maná also collaborated with Ernesto Yerena, a renowned artist and activist from Los Angeles. Yerena created a limited edition screen print with the band's image. Proceeds from sales of the screen print will also be donated to the Los Angeles Street Vendor Campaign and the Community Power Collective.
The street vendor-led campaign to legalize street vending began when a group of women in Boyle Heights started protesting the harassment of vendors in 2008. A decade later, after years of protests and city council meetings, both the state and city legalized street vending, and Los Angeles granted its first vending permit in 2020.
However, years after the street vending program launched, only 204 of the approximately 10,000 vendors occupying Los Angeles sidewalks have received permits, according to the Department of Public Works.
Maná will perform on November 24 and 25 at the Kia Forum in Inglewood as part of their historic residency, the first of its kind at a Los Angeles venue.
