It would be easy for Street Roots to play it safe and to not take on some of the most complex issues of our time. We could walk the straight and narrow, and simply focus on one aspect of poverty and choose to not rock the boat when it comes to thinking about issues of race, gender and class. The path of least resistance would mean not providing Portland with investigative journalism and a platform for social justice. It would mean not standing up and speaking truth to power in an intelligent manner.
Saying that, it would also be very easy for Street Roots to use our pages to simply rage against the machine and not offer tangible solutions to the problems we face in our community. After all, Street Roots is engulfed by the circumstances of poverty. We understand at a very raw level the harsh realities of a broken system. It’s hard to watch people die on the streets, literally, without having access to a roof over their heads and still offer a productive voice in policy discussions and in the community. It would be easy to simply say, down with the man, regardless of the context.
Obviously, it’s our goal to create the best publication possible for new and old readers alike to support vendors making money. We believe by providing investigative journalism coupled with arts and culture and voices from the community and people in poverty, we are helping provide important perspectives for the larger community.
Without focusing on the relationships between vendors and the general public through the sales of the newspaper, none of this would be possible.
People ask me, “How much do vendors selling the newspaper make?” It all depends. Vendors typically make between $200 and $1,500 monthly depending on their own personal circumstances. The newspaper offers a place for people, regardless of their past, to begin again. Street Roots offers people a chance improve their quality of life, while being a part of a larger community.
As many of you know, Street Roots launched weekly publication this year. Since going weekly in January, paper sales have increased by 56 percent. We have been floored by the community’s support.
Going weekly has been an amazing experience for everyone involved. A year prior to launching weekly Street Roots unveiled a public campaign asking readers and foundations to support giving vendors a stable income week in and week out. It was a risky campaign. If we were successful, it would be amazing. If we failed, we would fail publicly, and we would have mud on our face. Some thought it couldn’t be done. Others cheered us on. Most fans of Street Roots held their breath, hoping for the best.
We did it. Together.
During the first few weeks of weekly publication, Street Roots ran on adrenaline alone. Then came the, oh my goodness moment. We have to produce a newspaper and provide basic services for more than 100 people every week. Finally, we have settled in. Today, we have found our groove.
We hope you are enjoying the new format, the newspaper and most of all your relationships with vendors.
“Weekly has made my life so much better. I used to have to save my money the first week to spend it the second,” says Tony, a Street Roots vendor. “I used to have to struggle every day. Now I look forward to the new paper every Friday. So do my customers.”
It’s your support, readers, that makes Tony’s story possible.
We are happy to report that this spring a generous donor will be matching all recurring donations to Street Roots in the month of May. By giving a monthly donation you are supporting the work of the day-to-day needs of the vendor program and the newspaper, including providing a safe place for people on the streets to gather daily. You can give a one-time or a recurring donation online here. It means the world to us.
When Street Roots started out some 15 years ago, Street Roots was a ragtag monthly publication with about 1,000 readers. Today, with supporters like you, we are a weekly publication with a readership of nearly 15,000. That’s amazing. Thank you.