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.