OPINION | Portland's Street Roots is one of 100 street newspapers in 35 countries
“It's been raining ashes for the past couple of days due to the wildfires not too far away from here.” While this could frequently be a sentence uttered in the western United States, it was actually how Chris Alefantis, founder and editor-in-chief of Greek street paper Shedia, described the surroundings of his office “a stone's throw away from the Acropolis" in Athens.
I participated with Alefantis on a panel hosted by the Society of Professional Journalists last week that included Esteban Álvarez, director of Mi Valedor, Mexico City’s bi-monthly street magazine; Sarah Britz, editor-in-chief and publisher of Faktum in Gottenburg, Sweden; and Tony Inglis, editor of the International Network of Street Papers. Tim Harris, founder of Real Change in Seattle, hosted the panel. Harris has long been working in the street newspaper movement and is starting another street newspaper, Dignity Village, in Tacoma and Olympia, Washington.
Engagement with the International Network of Street Papers is, at times, a lifeline at Street Roots, yet I'd imagine many of our readers don't know it exists. We're all independent publications, after all, and some are weekly, like we are, while others are monthly, like Shedia and Faktum, or bi-monthly, like Mi Valedor. Many are full-color magazines rather than black and white newspapers. INSP, founded in in 1996, supports more than 100 street papers in 35 countries.
But all operate with a similar model – vendors can purchase the papers to sell (at Street Roots, vendors purchase Street Roots for a quarter and sell it for a dollar). Most papers provide low-barrier employment to people who are unhoused, but different political and economic conditions drive how each paper operates. While it might seem "strange that is these papers are needed in such a wealthy and rich countries Sweden," Britz said on the panel, "half of our vendors are poor migrants and refugees coming from other EU countries as Bulgaria and Romania."
"The gap between the rich and poor is growing in Sweden," Britz added.
We often refer to it as a street paper movement because the network exists to support emerging papers that might start in a basement with a couple of volunteers. There is an energy to the work – staff at established newspapers are keeping eye out for each new grassroots endeavor.
Israel Bayer, the former Street Roots executive director, now is the director of the North American bureau for INSP. During the pandemic, he began gathering street newspapers based in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. People would share how they were coping with paper shut-downs during the early months and how they were supporting vendors. We'd swap ideas. When Street Roots launched our Venmo account a year ago as a new way to pay vendors, we had plenty of other papers to look toward for advice. Real Change, up in Seattle, gave us step-by-step guidance.
All the street papers are connected by the INSP News Service, edited by Tony Inglis, who told me that everything from vendor stories to Black Lives Matter uprisings to stories of the climate disruption get reprinted in papers across the network. In this distressed climate, forests of Athens burn just as forests of the Western United States burn.
Street newspapers bring a global perspective on social justice, and I'm proud that we can offer you content from Seoul, South Korea; Porto Alegre, Brazil; Skopje, North Macedonia – all alongside the news of Oregon.
I encourage you to follow INSP on social media so that you can stay abreast of the various publications and the movement as a whole
INSP on social media
Facebook: @inspstreetpapers
Twitter: @_INSP
@INSP_NAmerica
Instagram: @insp_agram
When you travel, check out the the map of papers to see if street newspapers are near. That way, when some day you are walking by the Acropolis and someone offers you a magazine called Shedia (which translates to "life boat"), you'll be ready.
Kaia Sand is the executive director of Street Roots. You can reach her at kaia@streetroots.org. Follow her on Twitter @mkaiasand.
Street Roots is an award-winning weekly publication focusing on economic, environmental and social justice issues. The newspaper is sold in Portland, Oregon, by people experiencing homelessness and/or extreme poverty as means of earning an income with dignity. Street Roots newspaper operates independently of Street Roots advocacy and is a part of the Street Roots organization. Learn more about Street Roots. Support your community newspaper by making a one-time or recurring gift today.
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