OPINION | Led by Gary Barker, the mobile journalism program forges new paths to education and income
The whiteboard is covered in pale red and blue sentences – “I am a living miracle,” and below that, “Good morning all.”
I’m in the basement among the boxes of Street Roots archives in a makeshift classroom where Gary Barker gathered Street Roots vendors all spring for Mobile Journalism classes – the MoJo program. One person came to class from a nearby stoop, another from a camp a MAX-ride away, another, from various locations as she faced upheavals.
They wrote stories on computers, downloaded videos and photos documented from their tents, and supported each other.
Early in the pandemic, we began to talk about how to better support journalism on the streets. So many journalists couldn’t go out into the streets, and yet unhoused people were still out there.
How could we at Street Roots better support people with the skills and tools to report their own stories, as well as the stories they witnessed? We could equip people with portable technology. We could build educational structures around evaluating information with a critical eye, checking facts for accuracy, and finding sources.
Media itself is a powerful force in democracy, and not everyone can go to journalism school. So we’ve decided to dig in and start to build our own school at Street Roots. We’re starting small, but we have a lot of plans.
This past spring, we were supported by Vanport Mosaic to pilot an effort in which Gary Barker, a former Street Roots vendor, and MaryAnne Funk, a multimedia instructor at Portland Community College, worked with three vendors, Marietta Louden, Bronwyn Carver and Scott Mattson.
Barker is tailor-made for the position of MoJo Coordinator, which is supported through our partnership with Easter Seals.
“I was blessed when I was younger that I had a chance to get into journalism and broadcasting. I was 17 years old, and it was free. I didn’t have to pay a dime to go to Laney College.” That was the 1970s in Oakland. He got involved with dance and theater too.
Just as it was for him, Barker wants journalism to be free for more people on the streets. “We want to try to give the structure. We want to give them all the tools they need for writing, audio, photographs, video. The basics.”
He strives to bring some of the excitement he felt as a Laney College student to Street Roots.
“We implemented what we call Laney Come Alive, in which we are live broadcasting on the radio,” Barker said. “We got a grant.” Barker is attuned to the fundraising necessary to grow Street Roots, always alert for grants. We are featuring the MoJo Program this year at our annual breakfast, which will be broadcast Sept 30, 8 a.m. - 9 a.m.
RSVP: The Street Roots annual breakfast, which will feature the MoJo program, will be broadcast Sept. 30, 8 a.m. - 9 a.m.
The MoJo program has gotten a big boost from K. Rambo, our Zuhl Editing Fellow who is joining us as interim editor and staff reporter. Rambo is committed to working with MoJo writers on their editing and development, and teaching skills such as public record requests. Likewise, Kanani Cortez has joined our staff. She comes most recently from OPB, where she served as an interim producer on "Think Out Loud." This week, we will begin our search for Editor in Chief.
Recent commentaries from Dan Newth and Carver have emerged from the MoJo Program, as well as one feature article Newth wrote on the People’s Market at Rockwood.
Barker has many dreams for MoJo – a studio where people on the streets can produce their shows, housing that supports each person in a cohort. He’ll push us at Street Roots, and he’ll push us in the city.
He points to the whiteboard. “That was my word of the day,” he explains of the word “miracle,” a practice in MoJo classes in which participants select a word for each class.
“I am a miracle,” Barker says, “Still alive, still loving people” after surviving years on the streets himself.
He likes to describe the people he works with as “heroes of their own stories.” He continues: “We just give them a microphone. They show that they are still human, they can still think, and they can still perform actions that everyone else is performing.”
There’s a great deal ahead for the Street Roots newsroom. We’re carrying forward our commitment to social justice reporting while investing in the future of journalism, including who gets to tell the stories. Stay tuned.
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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