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.