News
Celebrating 20 years of Street Roots
We wouldn’t be here without you sharing our belief that we hold the future in our hands, that we don’t have to accept the status quo, that the paradigm can be shifted and tomorrow doesn’t have to be the same as today. [READ MORE] Vendor reflections: Roger Cavitt Street Roots has changed Portland a lot. It’s…
Street Roots vendor writing: A sense of community through Street Roots
My first experience selling Street Roots in 2002 was alienating at first. I was a stranger interrupting other strangers. It took me three days to sell my first 10 papers. If not for the encouragement of Brian Pollard, one of Street Roots’ founders, and Dana Ellis, a vendor who passed in 2005, I would have…
At Street Roots, a complex environment demands trust, empathy
As a street-level organization, Street Roots engages directly with people experiencing homelessness, and sadly, that often means encountering the crossroads of mental health problems and substance disorders. It is a significant part of our world, these days, whether you are housed or not. Over the course of 20 years – like so many other grassroots…
In memoriam: When loss strikes the Street Roots family
Living on the streets day to day can be rigorous, tough or just an all-out fight for survival. Unfortunately, unhoused people succumbing to those conditions are far too common. At Street Roots, we honor each vendor who has passed away with a memorial for their courageous fight and impact they left during their life on…
In the news: 20 years of Street Roots reporting
► 1998-99 December 1998 “14.08.250 Violated Downtown” The Portland city ordinance referred to in this headline was known as the “anti-camping ordinance.” In an act of civil disobedience, Portland’s Campaign for Legal Places to Sleep, of which Street Roots was a part, camped out at the intersection of Southwest Morrison Street and 12th Avenue. November 1999 …
Street Roots is part of a global movement
In 1994, about a dozen street papers across Europe joined forces and created the International Network of Street Papers. Two years later, street papers in the United State followed suit, forming the North American Street Newspaper Association. Eventually, in 2013, the networks formally merged, and the INSP became the single global network, now representing more…
Opinion
Built from the ground up: Street Roots turns 20
Welcome to this special edition of Street Roots marking our 20th anniversary. And thank you for making every day of it possible. We are a long way from our earliest days when we were just learning what it meant to be a street paper in a town with so many publications vying for your attention.…
From Dignity Village to Portland Street Response, advocacy is a vital part of Street Roots
Street Roots, said co-founder Bryan Pollard, “was born in advocacy. It never was not a part of the organization.” After all, Pollard pointed out, the Street Roots staff came together in Burnside Cadillac editor Sharon Pearson’s apartment to work on the Right 2 Sleep campaign. Although my own stint writing for the Burnside Cadillac was…
Street Roots has been a champion for social justice for 20 years
Street Roots advocacy is a brand of activism you’d have a hard time finding a definition for. Using a fusion of different strategies and political tactics, the organization has helped transform the way Portland thinks, not just about homelessness and poverty, but the larger social justice movement on a whole. The independent investigative journalism speaks…
Journalism in an unprecedented political climate
As American values and those living on our country’s margins have come increasingly under attack, Street Roots has responded with meaningful coverage. Giving a voice to our community’s most vulnerable has always been at the core of our newspaper’s mission, but it became clear in 2016 that, in our role as an independent news source,…
Street Roots vendor writing: A vital outlet for our creative expression
I was asked, “Why is it so important to have a creative writing class at Street Roots?” Where do I begin? Many thoughts come to mind. It’s called creativity. It’s called therapy. It’s getting stuff out of my head. It’s getting to know the other vendors and writers. It’s sharing. It’s caring. It’s family. It’s…
