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C E lE B B ira iC A
street r o o t a lB
Education * Dialogue* Independence
Fast Facts
Leo’s loss fuels his advocacy fo r homeless
A new study commissioned by health care
foundation The Commonwealth Fund shows
that as health care costs have risen and
insurance benefits have disappeared, women
have been hit particularly hard.
In 2007, even before the economic recession,
a majority of women had problems related to
health care costs. Women overall have lower
average incomes than men and higher out-of-
pocket medical costs, but a greater need for
health care between the ages of 18 and 45.
BY ELIZABETH SCHWARTZ
C O N T R IB U T IN G W R ITER
B
•71 percent of women ages 19-64 were •
uninsured, underinsured, had problematic
medical debts or didn't access health care they
needed because of costs in 2007. For men, it -
was 59 percent.
• 45 percent of women and 36 percent of
meh did not receive preventive cancer
screenings or dental exams in 2007 because of
the cost. Women were much more likely than
men to delay or avoid necessary health care.
< ln 2003, an estimated 16 million people in
the U.S. were underinsured — they had some
health coverage, but it was inadequate for
their needs. In 2007, that number reached 25
million.
• In 2001,29 percent of low-income worhen
with spent at least a tenth of their income on
health care premiumsand out-of-pocket costs.
By 2007, that rose to 55 percent.
• One-third of women and one-quarter of
men in 2007 were unable to afford food, heat
or rent, had used up all their savings, had
taken out a mortgage on their home or had
taken on credit card debt because of medical
bills.
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omeless advocate Leo Rhodes
moved from Seattle to Portland a
couple of months agoto get some
re s t He had become so preoccupied with
educating people — politicians, journalists
and schqol children — about homelessness
that he wasn’t taking time to eat and sleep
properly.
■,
Although some see him as a pillar o f
strength, Leo complained to me that he is
“not Superman.” He told me, without
sounding bitter, that others have tried to
help, but no one else was “stepping up
because he needed a break.” Many people
expressed an interest in helping but find
that they burn out after only a month or
two, Leo said. But they do not have the
same passion for the cause that drives Leo.
After talking to Leo for an hour, I came to
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VENDOR PROflUE-
Leo Rhodes
realize that the ghosts of homeless friends
drive him to continue his advocacy work.
I found Leo Rhodes at the Street Roots
office early one cloudy May morning. He ,
had just located an online article about
himself and the’ tent city he had helped
establish in Seattle. (See www.vanmag.com/
News&Features/Tent_City) He wanted to’
give me an interview, but Leo had a hard
time tearing himself away from, the
computer screen. He is currently homeless
as he has been off and on for 20 years. He
has no computer, no phone, no roof over his
fall silent. “My head is so full,” he saidr
apologizing. “I can’t stop thinking about
them.”
“Them” are all the friends who have been
murdered while hom elessor who have
committed suicide because they cannot
tolerate being treated like “mangy dogs” by
those with secure shelter, he says. Then
there are the friends who have died because
they could not access appropriate medical
care.
' Leo gave me several graphic examples of
tragic deaths that came as a result of the
stereotypes “housed” individuals hold about
the homeless. One of Leo’s “ghosts” was an
educated man, a lawyer, who was told by the
group of boys who beat him to death with a
baseball bat, “You should be thankful that
we’re doing this to you because you’re .
useless, dumb, lazy, and stupid.” Three days
P H O T O B Y E LIZ A B E T H S C H W A R T Z
later, the murdered man’s friend, who
witnessed
his death, committed suicide
head. Not even a change of clothing.
The Pima Indian has a small backpack,;It J because he could not deal with the memory
mostly contains paper and pens for the book of what had happened.
. While that might be an extreme example,
he is writing about the Seattle tent city.
the stereotype— that everyone who is
When it rains hard and the papers getwet,
homeless s drug addicted or mentally ilf— is
he has to throw them away and start over,
very real. So pervasive, according to
Leo sells Street Roots outside Panera
Bfead in the Hollywood District. The money Rhodes, that government programs are
aimed at these populations, with little
goes for food and writing paper. He receives
no public assistance. He appreciates it when money left over to help others by, providing
affordable housing.
individuals give him a sandwich or piece of
When Katrina hit, Leo told me, “200,000
fruit. It helps, he says.
people became homeless overnight. Those
I found it difficult to get Leo to talk about
himself. I wanted to know how he is taking I homeless aren’t mentally ill or addicts.”
Many things can lead to homelessness:
care of himself so he can regain enough
housing foreclosures^ divorcé, injuries, and
health to continue his work. This articulate
illness. Leo’s advice to the housed: Make a
man would begin to tell me about his
financial cushion for yourself, ’and fight for
reduced lung capacity, his arthritis or ;;
affordable
housing for all people in need.
untreated sleep apnea, but then he would
Street paper network celebrates milestone
BY JOANNE ZUHL
teiiSf AFF W R ITER
e are not alone.
Yes', Street Roots is a unique
publication in Portland, but we are
part of a global movement of alternative and
advocacy journalism called street papers.
Earlier this month, street papers from '
around the globe conferenced in Bergen,
Norway celebrating the 15 anniversary of
the International Network of Street Papers.
On every continent on earth, street papers
are providing local poverty solutions just
like Street Roots, with vendors earning a
dignified, flexible income through sales,
writing and
participation). But
equally important is
the work each paper
is doing to inform
readers about
economic and social
inequality, and
bringing people
together to Create a
more just
environment for /
everyone?
From May 13 to ’
17, Bergen’s street
paper Megafon
hosted about 90
delegates from street
papers around the world, engaging all of us
in training sessions, roundtable discussions
on ethics in journalism and workforce
development, and simply networking with
fellow papers doing remarkable work and
making change in their own communities.
From the International Street Film Festival
to progressive approaches to journalism to ?
products and benefits we can offer to
vendors, the conference provided many
great ideas for Street Roots.
The week of workshops and discussions
were highlighted by the INSP Awards for
outstanding journalism.
It was an evening to celebrate the best of,
■
P H O T O S BY M A G O F O N , B ER GEN , N O R W A Y
Delegates a n d newspapers a t the 2 0 0 9
conference o f the In te m a tio h a l Netw ork o f
Street Papers.
street journalism with many supporters of
our work, including representatives from
Thomson Reuters and Inter Press News, as
well aslocaldignitaries..
The competition is judged by an
international panel composed-of award-
winning journalists. Two papers in North
America were honored at the evening. Sean
Condon with Megaphone in Vancouver, B.C.
received the external press award for his
piece in The Tyee newspaper advocating for
the rights of the homeless and poor. Ahmad
Kavousian, also with Megaphone, took top
honors for bestphotograph, and Gregory
Flannery with Street Vibes in Cincinnati
received the award for best feature writing.
Look for these pieces and photographs in
the upcoming edition of Street Roots.
For my part, I participated in a panel of
journalists discussing the future -of street
papers for the next 15 years. While the
challenges facing journalism and major ♦
media houses was well represented in our
discussion, the emphasis for me was the
quality of the journalism street papers are
producing, working to create more
progressive reporting that seizes on the
sense of Urgency within our readers.
Wq are the rising news source for more
and more readers with each edition, at a
time when the news story of the decade is
poverty and homelessness. This is our
expertise and we have to get better and
smarter at how we fill the void left by years
of bankrupt news coverage from the major
houses and gutted newsrooms from the
fallout on Wall Street. If we can do that, we
have another powerful 15 years ahead.