About

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.

N ewspaper

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. Street Roots is also a member of the Institute for Nonpofit News.

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.

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.

Everyone is entitled to opportunity, 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.

As action steps and commitments, we aim to:

understand the historical and contemporary machinery of racism, and how it continues today regardless of individual intention.
correct 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.
unlock 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.