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Portland, Oregon's award-winning weekly street newspaper
For those who can't afford free speech
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About

  • Mission
  • Values
  • Equity Statement
  • History
  • Meet our vendors
  • Meet our staff
  • Meet our board
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Street Roots

Founded in 1999, Street Roots is a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization in Portland, Oregon, that publishes a weekly social justice newspaper sold by people experiencing homelessness and poverty to earn an income. 

Vendor program

Each week, about 200 Street Roots vendors purchase copies of the newspaper for 25 cents each, then sell them on the streets of Portland for $1, keeping the profits. More than 800 vendors sell the newspaper during the course of a year. 

Newspaper

Our weekly, award-winning newspaper is filled with quality local journalism focused on social and environmental justice issues. Our content includes a mix of in-depth reporting by professional journalists, along with op-eds from community members and social justice oriented organizations. We also regularly feature poetry and other writings by vendors, produced independently and through our creative writing workshops.

Street Roots belongs to the Society of Professional Journalists and abides by its code of ethics. Street Roots is a member of the International Network of Street Papers, which includes more than 110 similar but independent publications in 30 countries worldwide. 

Rose City Resource

The most comprehensive list of services for people experiencing homelessness and poverty in Clackamas, Multnomah and Washington counties, more than 215,000 guides are published and distributed annually. The information is also available digitally, updated throughout the year. 

Ambassador Program

Some Street Roots vendors become ambassadors who are paid to do additional work, including public health outreach, surveys, and trainings. Based on these work experiences, Street Roots links ambassadors witih community partners for new jobs.

Advocacy

Streets Roots advocates for systemic change by drawing from the expertise of vendors who experience homelessness and poverty, and the investigations of the editorial department. Most recently, we introduced the Portland Street Response plan in our newspaper and then campaigned for its implementation.

 

 

 

 

 


Vendors gather for new paper Friday
Photo by Eric Elmore

Organizational Structure

Street Roots is a nonprofit media organization intertwined with the lives of people experiencing homelessness and poverty. We work to make income accessible to the poorest people in our society through work that is low barrier and, at its best, empowering. We advocate for better conditions for people experiencing homelessness, as well as systemic change that lessens poverty and increases access to housing. We produce our newspaper with a commitment to social justice. Our tagline, “For those who can’t afford free speech" drives home how money too often purchases power, weakening democracy. 

All the areas of our work – income, advocacy, journalism – are driven by our values, but each area has its own practices and methods of impact. 

Mindful of conflicts of interest and fairness in reporting, the Street Roots editor makes the decisions for the newspaper’s journalism independent from both financial interests of the organization as well as organizational advocacy campaigns. Street Roots maintains a policy on editorial independence. 

The Street Roots executive director as well as some other staff members, vendors and ambassadors undertake advocacy according to our stated priorities.

 

 

Mission

Street Roots creates income opportunities for people experiencing homelessness and poverty by producing a newspaper and other media that are catalysts for individual and social change.​

 


Values

Creativity. We celebrate resourcefulness and imagination.

Dignity. We lift each other up through the quality of our work and our engagement with each other.

Equity. We hold the work of anti-racism and anti-oppression as central to our aspirations of justice.

Grace. We regard each other not by our worst moment, but our best future.

Integrity. We hold truth and justice paramount in telling our stories.

Relation. We build solidarity by knowing each other across difference.

 


Equity Statement

Inherent in our mission, Street Roots believes everyone is entitled to opportunity and dignity, and the freedom to reach their fullest potential. We recognize that Black, Indigenous folks and people of color are disproportionately impacted by socio-economic injustice, including homelessness, and solutions to that injustice means solutions for all. To achieve that goal, we must be intentional in our work toward equity, ensuring that those most affected by injustice have the most resources to fight injustice. 

Action steps and commitments:

  • Equity means our actions and processes prioritize individual needs over dominant culture.
  • Equity means we work toward integration and inclusion, not assimilation.
  • Equity commands us to understand the historical and contemporary machinery of racism, and how it continues today regardless of individual intention.
  • Equity expects us to work toward correcting our own implicit biases and strive for greater understanding. It requires us to identify inequities, eliminate barriers and respect people’s different experiences and needs.
  • Equity unlocks possibilities for a better community for all, not despite of, but because of our diversity in education, opinions, culture, ethnicity, race, sex, gender identity and expression, nation of origin, age, color, religion, disability, sexual orientation, carceral status and beliefs. Acting equitably creates unlimited opportunities for each person to reach their full potential, emotionally and intellectually, across all social and economic systems.

To fulfill this vision, Street Roots will ground itself in the values of creativity, dignity, equity, grace, integrity and relation. These principles are fundamental to what we want this organization to become: an organization where vendors, staff, volunteers and everyone feels welcome, safe, respected and empowered.

History


 

Meet our vendors

Street Roots
A cutout photo of Jim McRae smiling is next to a quote from him that says, "I’ve watched the paper change over the years, and  I’m really happy that it’s expanding the way it is.”

Street Roots vendor profile | Working as a vendor for 6 years, Jim is a community staple

Jim says when you try to help yourself, others will help too
By
Dylan Jefferies
June 29, 2022

Pages

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Meet our staff

Gary Barker

Gary Barker
MoJo Coordinator | 
gary@streetroots.org
 

Kanani Cortez

Kanani Cortez
Editorial Producer |
kanani@streetroots.org
 

Raven Drake

Raven Drake
Ambassador Program Manager |
raven@streetroots.org
(971) 420-1030
 

Tina Drake

Tina Drake
Vendor Liaison |
tina@streetroots.org
(503) 994-4040
 

James "Pops" Duby

James “Pops” Duby
Vendor Program Assistant |
pops@streetroots.org
 

Desmond Hardison

Desmond Hardison
Canvasser | 
desmond@streetroots.org
 

Andrew Hogan

Andrew Hogan
Deputy Director |
andrew@streetroots.org 
(503) 967-7004

 

Nettie Johnson

Nettie Johnson
Vendor Coach | Custodian
nettie@streetroots.org
 

Kayla Jones

Kayla Jones
Operations Manager |
admin@streetroots.org
(503) 967-3963
 

Nina Lee

Nina Lee
Development Coordinator | 
nina@streetroots.org
(503) 228-5657 Ext. 408
 

Sophie Maziraga

Sophie Maziraga
Rose City Resource Manager |
sophie@streetroots.org
(503) 994-0098

Cody McGraw

Cody McGraw
Capital Campaign Director |
cody@streetroots.org 
(503) 330-1813


Piper McDaniel

Piper McDaniel
Investigative Reporter |
piper@streetroots.org
 

Melanie Henshaw
2022 Zuhl Fellow |
melanie@streetroots.org

 

 

Carly Ng

Carly Ng
Vendor Program Manager |
carly@streetroots.org 
 

DeVon Pouncey

DeVon Pouncey
Vendor Program Director |
devon@streetroots.org 
(503) 967-3965
 

K. Rambo

K. Rambo
Editor in Chief |
k.rambo@streetroots.org 
 

Veronica Ruth

Veronica Ruth
Vendor Program Assistant |
veronica@streetroots.org 
 

Kaia Sand

Kaia Sand
Executive Director |
kaia@streetroots.org 
(503) 967-3987 
 

Kodee Zanke

Kodee Zarnke
Vendor Program Coordinator |
kodee@streetroots.org

 

 

 

 

Meet our board

Stacey Heath

Stacey Heath

Board Chair
 

Angela Uherbelau

Candace Avalos

Vice Chair
 

Heather Stadick

Heather Stadick​

Treasurer
 

Jay Parasco

Jay Parasco

Secretary

 

Nick Bjork

Nick Bjork

Capital Committee Chair

 

Mary Edmeades

Mary Edmeades

 

Stephen Gomez

Stephen Gomez


 

Sandra Hahn

Sandra Hahn

 

Sunny Lin

Sunny Lin

 

 

 

Bryan Pollard

Bryan Pollard

 

Leo Rhodes

Leo Rhodes
 

Angela Uherbelau

Angela Uherbelau

 

Ben Ware

Ben Ware


 

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