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About Street roots. (Portland, OR) 1998-current | View Entire Issue (May 20, 2016)
Street Roots • May 20-26, 2016 Together, great things are always possible Ni Israel Bayer is the executive director o f Street Roots. You can reach him at israel@streetroots.org or follow him on Twitter @israelbayer. early 18 months ago, Street Roots set out to go from a biweekly to a weekly publication, schedule. No easy task. The goal of going to a weekly publication schedule was twofold: One was to give vendors selling the newspaper a stable income to support their quality of life every week. The second goal was to maintain a quality newspaper that gives readers a way to educate themselves and engage in social justice issues in our community. Eighteen months later we’re still hard at it, and the weekly publication has been wildly successful. Sayingthat, we need your help, but not for the reasons you might expect. We need your help not because we have fallen behind or that we’re not able to maintain a rigorous weekly schedule. It’s because we’ve far exceeded many of our three-year goals in just half the time. More vendors are selling the newspaper than ever before. “Street Roots means that I can sell the paper and get off the streets ? says Michael ¡Ssali. “The people that I sell it to can also read something new, and connect with us5 who sell the paper.” With readers’ overwhelming support, newspaper sales continue to increase and we’re providing . iihmediate income for more than 150 individuals, giving people th e opportunity to improve their quality of life and help them get off the streets. “I can focus on the future and see the possibilities Street Roots can bring into my life, not only financially but just contact with the part of society that I find . myself in,” says Johnny Harkrider. Johnny is right Street Roots is all about community. Being able to sell the newspaper throughout Portland gives people the opportunity to gain self confidence and ultimately change the course of their lives. We all want to feel like we belong to something bigger than ourselves. It’s one of the reasons we launched a new biannual publication of poetry, artwork and prose by f people experiencing homelessness. The latest publication, “Sleeping Rough” is on the streets now and is helping vendors gain additional income,: while highlighting important perspectives by those effected by homelessness and poverty. The relationships between vendors selling the newspaper, local businesses and you, the reader, allows us all collectively be a part of something special. Building relationships through the sales of the Page 3 E d it o r ia l newspaper helps breakdown many of the stereotypes peddled in the media about people experiencing homelessness and poverty. At the end of the day, we are all human and it is that human connectivity that will help us do great things in our community. Street Roots advocacy has never been stronger. We’ve thrown much of our capacity into working to support the Welcome Home Coalition to deliver ongoing resources for housing and homelessness, including pushing for a November ballot measure to support affordable housing, working to support a short-term rental tax (Aitbnb) to go to a local housing trust fund and pushing the city to prioritize housing and homeless services and policies in our community. The newspaper itself is all about delivering quality independent, investigative journalism and social commentary on issues that matter. Street Roots doesn’t just report the news - it tells the story of human beings affected by the policies and environments that surround them. We tackle hard subject matters about the plight of immigrants, the drug war, health care, housing and homelessness, to name a few. “Street Roots is a guiding light for our city,” says Sybil Hebb, an attorney with the Oregon Law Center. “Through Street Roots, vendors find love, community and self-worth. The weekly paper is some of the best journalism on the most compelling topics impacting our city. Street Roots reminds us of the best Portland can be, and reminds us to expect the loving best from one another.” . True that. We believe in the power of love and forgiveness over hate or resentm ent Sound cheesy? Possibly it does, but , I can honestly say there is nothing more powerful than love when faced with raw trauma and poverty We see the unimaginable horrors and affects of poverty every day at Street Roots. It’s that love that carries us through. We believe that we need one another, as individuals and as a community. We understand at a very deep level that it’s impossible to overcome the insurmountable problems we face, such as ottr housing crisis and climate change, without working together. And it’s this very reason that we need your help this spring and I humbly ask you for your support If you give $50 or more to Street Roots in the month of May - including giving a small monthly recurring donation and get a “Housing is a human right” T-shirt You can give a donation at streetroots.org or see the back page of the newspaper. Your support matters! Together, we are stronger. Love! Write in If you would like to have something that you've written published in our pages, or would like to get involved as a member of our reporting staff, contact Managing Editor Joanne Zuhl at 503-228-5657, joanne@streetroots org. We ask that all submissions include the author’s name and contact information, if available. Street Roots 211 NW Davis St. Portland, OR 97209 503-228-5657 Fax:503-227-3117 www.streetroots.org www.news.streetraots.org Hours: 7:30 a.m.-3 p.m. Mon.-Fri.f 7:30 a.m.-2 p.m. Sat. and 7:30-11 a»m. Sun. Advertising Interested in advertising in Street Roots? Contact Israel Betyer at israel@streetroots.org Staff Executive D ire cto r Israel Bayer israel@streetroots.org M anaging Edito r Joanne Zuhl joanne@stfeetFOQte.org Vendor P ro gram D ire cto r Cole Merkel , cole@streetroots.org Operations D ire cto r Sarah Beecroft Development D ire cto r Sarah Cloud P rogram A ssista n t Scott Jackson, Jesuit Volunteer Development A ssista n t Ann-Derrick - Gaillot R e p o rte rs Emily Green, Suzanne Zalokar, Ann-Derrick Galliot, Sarah Hansell, Leonora Ko, Jared Paben, Am anda W aldroupe Pho to graphers Diego Diaz, Joe Glode, Ben Brink Edito rial A ssista n t Monica Kwasnik C an v asse r Desmond Hardison Board of Directors Chairm an Brad Taylor Vice-Chairm an Rachel Langford T re a su re r Heather Stadick S e cre ta ry Amber Bielman D irecto rs Bruce Anderson, Rich Rodgers, Michael Anderson, Leo Rhodes, Nora Coon, Marcus Sw ift, Volunteers Jan Bayer, John Barker, Stacey Head), Stephanie Holum, Anjali Rathore, Zoe Klingmann, Haven Herrin, Dan Jones, Rob Shyrock, Dennis Hogan, Tom Wright, Eileen Deerdock, Vince WaWman, Judy Tayior, Karen Allen, Monica McKune, Susan Wolfe, Lucas Hawthorne, Thomas Buell Jr., Jeanie Lunsford, Yasmin Amirsoleymani, Jason Cohen, Tom Ray, Doug Spangle, Susannah Kamata, Jon Raymond, Hilary Smith, Diana Richardson, Cherie Manning if you are interested in volunteering with Street Roots, please submit a volunteer application at streetroote.org/volunteer. Or call o u r , volunteer coordinator for more inform ation. at 503-228-5657.
