Thank you for investing in Street Roots. You're helping change lives.
Supporting Street Roots means giving people a hand up. It means giving people who may have lost everything a fighting chance. It means helping prevent dozens of your neighbors from becoming homeless. It means helping elders living on a fixed income to improve their quality of life. It means giving people hope and confidence. It means helping contribute directly to creating a community across class lines that believes that together we can make a difference.
“Street Roots means security, independence and to experience things I’ve never experienced before,” said vendor Bettyjo Griffiths.
This year, Street Roots has been working with the Portland marketing and communication firm Frank Creative . The company is donating its time free of charge to help elevate the Street Roots brand. By doing so, we are educating the broader public on the importance of Street Roots and helping raise the profile of vendors in the community.
This year, when supporters give $50 or more online or by mailing in a check, they will receive a special-edition Street Roots T-shirt.
First and foremost, we want to give thanks to the many people who invest in Street Roots. It’s your investment that allows us to produce a quality weekly newspaper that gives vendors experiencing homelessness and poverty a stable income. We are hoping supporters wear the T-shirt with pride and become proud Street Roots ambassadors.
It’s no secret that Street Roots is grassroots. One of the most common ways people are turned on to Street Roots is through the community itself. By becoming a Street Roots ambassador, you are helping change people’s lives. You’re helping create a successful environment for vendors to sell the newspaper and make a steady income. Plus readers are receiving award-winning cultural and social justice journalism. We also pride ourselves on providing people experiencing poverty and those on the fringes with having a platform to be published. It’s a perfect marriage.
“To me, Street Roots means love. To love myself and love others,” said vendor Billy Meyer.
Street Roots is very intentional about the work we do. By highlighting and providing a voice for those who may otherwise go unnoticed, we are helping shape public opinion about the poor while working on broader strategies that help tackle important social justice issues in our community: poverty, racism, climate change, to name a few. We believe deeply at Street Roots that all of these things are interconnected. The issues that face our community and our world are complex. We do our best to help provide the community with an array of voices and perspectives that help our city be the best it can be. We believe in Portland as much as Portland believes in us.
It’s also why we believe so much in the advocacy work of the organization and partnering with others. It’s not news to anyone that Portland is experiencing a homeless and housing crisis . Our advocacy efforts and partnerships are helping shape important policies that will go to support Portlanders to have a safe place to call home. From being outspoken on tent cities and the criminalization of the poor to helping advocate for better regulations, policies and revenue to support housing in Portland — we simply will not give up. We cannot give up. Being both strategic and outspoken is something Street Roots prides itself on.
Marissa Madrigal had this to say about Street Roots , “If any group of people gathering to break bread and plot the revolution can do it, it is this group, this family. Street Roots staff, vendors and supporters, you are badasses. You are unflinching and electric.” Yes!
Friends, it is easy to become cynical and jaded when it comes to the issue of homelessness and poverty. Having said that, your investment in Street Roots matters. Seriously. It does.
“Street Roots allows me to see the kindness in other people,” said vendor Allison Strange.
You will find an envelope in the Nov. 6-12 edition of Street Roots. Please give. You can also give a donation directly to Street Roots or at the Willamette Week Give!Guide .
We hope that this year, Portlanders can take the time to make an investment in Street Roots to carry on our work as a weekly publication, to remain a leading advocacy voice on the poverty front and to, most importantly, help give vendors the stability they need to be successful. We are a team Portland. We are family.
Israel Bayer is the executive director of Street Roots. You can reach him at israel@streetroots.org or follow him on Twitter @israelbayer .
