Street newspaper

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Street newspapers, sometimes called homeless newspapers (in either case "newspapers" is sometimes shortened to "papers") are small, local newspapers written for (and often by) homeless people. At least some of the content is often related to homelessness, poverty, discrimination, and progressive solutions to these problems. The term "Street newspaper" comes from the fact that homeless people are often said to be "living on the street".

Many are designed to help homeless people gain an income by selling the papers. Most papers give new vendors a small quantity of papers (usually 10 to 25) free to start. Otherwise, the vendors are charged a small amount to cover printing costs, and keep the profits. The amount of profit per paper varies from 50-90%. These publications are particularly likely to also include more mainstream content; anything from local event coverage to comics. Some also allow other "at risk" people to sell the papers, such as unemployed people or people at risk of being homeless. Most require vendors to sign a code of conduct, and give them badges to prove they are approved vendors. Many papers train their vendors.

The Street News Service collects stories from 39 US papers, and 9 Canadian papers, making them available in a centralized Web site, since not all papers have their own Web site. The International Network of Street Papers reports 55 members in 28 countries, while the North American Street Newspaper Association reports papers in 35 cities in the United States and Canada.

Directories of street newspapers can be found at:

• International Network of Street Papers members details)
• Street News Service Contributing Members

English language street newspapers, sold by vendors, that have Web presence include (monthly unless otherwise noted):

• The Big Issue
  • The Big Issue, London & Southern England). Sold weekly. (website)
  • The Big Issue Scotland, Glasgow & Scotland. Sold weekly. (website)
  • The Big Issue in the North, Northern England. Sold weekly. (website)
  • The Big Issue Cymru, Wales. (website)
  • The Big Issue South West, South-Western England. (website)
  • The Big Issue in the North, Northern England. Sold weekly. (website)
  • The Big Issue Australia, Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Perth, and Brisbane, Australia. Sold fortnightly. (website)
  • The Big Issue South Africa, Cape Town & Johannesburg, South Africa (website)
  • The Big Issue Namibia, Windhoek, Namibia (website)
• BIGNews, New York, New York, USA (website)
• Real Change, Seattle, Washington, USA (website)
• Spare Change, printed in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA & distributed throughout the Boston area. Sold biweekly. (website)
• Street Sense, Washington, DC, USA (website)
• StreetWise, Chicago, Illinois, USA (website)
• Whats Up Magazine, Boston, Massachusetts, USA (website)

Other street newspapers that have Web sites include:

• Upward, New York, New York, USA: USA, monthly, free to the homeless (website)
• Diagonal, Buenos Aires, Argentina: Street Paper whose beneficiaries are members of the impoverished middle class, or the new poor (website)
• Hecho en BS.AS, Buenos Aires, Argentina: Street Paper launched in June 2000 (website)

The first modern street newspaper was the Street News which was started in 1989 in New York City [1] by rock musician Hutchinson Persons[2].

[edit] External links

• "Words On the Street: Homeless People's Newspapers"
• North American Street Newspaper Association (NASNA)
• NASNA Street News Service
• International Network of Street Papers (INSP)
• Street Seen Irish Anti-Poverty Paper
• Street Roots Portland, Oregonde:Straßenzeitung

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