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About Street roots. (Portland, OR) 1998-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 29, 2014)
on a great year and anticipating the one ahead elcome to the 2013-14 Street Roots Annual Report, It’s been an exciting year at Street Roots. At the heart of the Street Roots community is more than 300 vendors experiencing homelessness and poverty. Vendors are able to earn a dignified living by selling Street Roots in front of more than 70 local businesses. A community is built on street corners and in neighborhoods throughout Portland Because of the more than 15,000Regular readers of the newspaper. There’s nothing more powerful than being able to support individuals and families who endure the hard realities of poverty while overcoming their circumstances collectively to improve their quality of life. By working together with local businesses, community members and others, we are able to witness . both the power of love and the strength of the human spirit The simple act of purchasing a newspaper allows the community to come together across class lines and to hold a conversation in a safe space. Besides being able to access quality journalism and voices from the community, your readership is giving individuals and families hope and self- confidence. It is possible for a woman to restore her strength after experiencing the horrors of domestic yiolehce and sexual assault We can support a man in finding stability after experiencing years of addiction and abuse on the streets. Collectively, we are giving a veteran experiencing the trauma of War the space to recover and give back to his community? Stereotypes about the poor are shattered. Lasting relationships are built. Real social change is occurring. W What we’ve accomplished this past year The newspaper: , The Street Roots Reader Experience Street Roots worked to understand at a deeper level our readership and support of the organization this past year. The reader experience (see below) has served to give vendors and the organization a better understanding of how people come in contact with Street Roots and how one might become a regular reader and supporter. While the document was meant for internal use, we’ve decided to publish the diagram for readers in the annual report to better explain our thinking when it comes to supporting the mission of the organization. Street Roots is hoping to go from a bi-weekly to a weekly publication by the end of the year. With the support of local foundations and readers like you, we’re hoping to add editorial staff in October*and launch in December. Why go weekly? Vendor W illiam Howard was homeless when arriving a t Street Roots. D uring his tim e with the organization, he was able to stay clean an d Sober a n d obtain housing. The vendor program: • Street Roots provided a safe space far more than 500 people experiencing homelessness and poverty — including access to computers, a mailing address, hygiene items, fresh water, coffee (Thanks, Stumptown!) and public restrooms. Street Roots offers hospitality 365 days a year, rain or shine. • Street Roots partnered with Central City Concern to sign up more than 90 percent of our vendors with health care. • Street Roots partnered with JOIN, Northwest Concern and Transition Projects to facilitate • Street Roots published 26 quality editions of the newspaper last year highlighting an array of social justice issues. • The newspaper highlighted more than 100 individuals experiencing homelessness and poverty. ■ • The newspaper gave voice to more 30 social justice organizations working on issues ranging from immigration and criminal justice reform, the environment, affordable housing and homelessness, marriage equality and equity. housing for more than 40 individuals, while helping prevent homeléssness for more than 100 people. • Street Roots hosted a weekly Writer’s Grbup for people experiencing homelessness and poverty. • Street Roots worked with individuals and institutions to provide monthly summer barbeques fot vendors, tickets to Trail Blazers games and marching in the Veteran’s Day and Pride parades. Street Roots Rose City Resource Guide: City Resource guides distributed to more than 400 nonprofits, businesses, health care providers and government institutions. (See more on page 3 of the annual report.).. Advocacy: • Street Roots worked to secure $1.7 million dollars in one-time funding for short term rent assistance. • Street Roots partnered witu City Club of Portland, Oregon ON and the Citizens Crime Commission to present a series on homelessness at the City Club of Nearly 70 percent of the sales of Street Roots occur during the first week of publication. The newspaper sells like hotcakes. Vendors do very well. During the second week of publication, the newspaper experiences a significant decrease in sales — making it hard for vendors to maintain a stable income to support their quality of life, By going weekly, it’s our goal to give vendors a more stable income, week in and week out. Being a Weekly publication will also allow Street Roots to be timely in the news department — offering the same quality journalism and voices from the community that readers have come to expect from the newspaper. Portland. • Street Roots Board Member and Vendor Leo Rhodes is currently working with the City Club of Portland on a research project looking at hëalth care and homelessness. • Street Roots advocated on a range of different social justice issues in the newspaper - supporting marriage equality, the legalization of marijuana and increased ' housing resources, to name a few. • Street Roots is working in partnership with a group of housing and homeless organizations to create a metro-wide coalition that will be launched at the end of the year to support increased revenue for housing and homeless services. Your support means giving Street Roots and vendors a hand.up in the community. It means supporting individuals and families to collectively seek solutions and work toward making our community the best it can be. Your support means helping the organization go weekly, which ultimately means giving vendors who sell the newspaper a quality product and a better life. Israel Bayer Executive Director • Street Roots published 140,000 Rose e • H Quote Quote I j j \ “Some guy is asking me for } something.” & f over from lunch. I ’ve seen people selling this paper before. I’l l buy one ” SR every time I go out for coffee. He’s always friendly and I fee/ good buying the paper from h im ” This person understands that Street Roots Is a paper they can buy. Genera! random person on the street. We don’t know bow much awareness or interest this persona has for issues around homelessness. May or may not have seen other street papers before. Thinking Thinking P 7 see the same guy selling Description Description Q W raf does this person Quote 7 have some change left 7 don’t know if this paper Description & Quote ■ 7 believe in what SR is doing. I know that the program makes a difference in the vendors’ lives. I tell my friends about SR all the time to tty to help people understand the organization.” Description j t He has been buying foe paper from the same vendor or multiple vendors for a while. He believes in the cause. He talks to his friends about Street Roots. Quote “Street Roots is an organization I believe in and want to support ” ■ Description She gets foe mission and has i been buying paper for a while. Definitely reads foe paper, ' appreciates the quality of foe j writing. She understands that i supporting Street Roots as an j organization is something separate from buying the paper. ■ Thinking Thinking 7 don't read the paper every is any good, but i want to help this guy o u t” want?” Has seen the same vendor in the same spot before. She understands on a basic level that vendors sell papers as an Income stream. Has bought a paper before. Maybe has read it, maybe hasn’t. Regular Buyer tíme I buy it, but I do like the vendor profiles.” 0 1 "I support Street Roots by buying foe paper. ” Thinking 4» "Is bits person homeless?” "What is the paper he is holding?” Desired action(s) Desired action(s) y ty Understand that Street Roots —J js a paper for sale. "It’s good that the vendor gets 75 cents o f each paper safe.” | Buy the paper for the first time. j Ay Buy the paper again. Understand the fundamentals about Street Roots and the vendor program. Desired action(s) Ay Buy the paper regularly. Desired action(s) Be an ambassador. Share foe word about Street Roots. Desired action(s) Ay Understand that there is an organization behind foe paper and be moved to donate. I’ve supported my local vendors for a while now. it’s time for my year-end donations. Sheet Roots will be one o f them.” Continue donating.
