Megahpone launches special issue for Olympics

January 28, 2010—FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Vancouver—With the eyes of the world on Vancouver for the Winter Olympics, residents of the city’s Downtown Eastside will have a unique opportunity to dispel the negative stereotypes of their historic, but troubled, neighbourhood.

Megaphone, a magazine sold on the streets of Vancouver by homeless and low-income vendors, is launching a special, double-issue on the Downtown Eastside at the Interurban Gallery on Wednesday, February 3rd at 11 a.m. Entitled “Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside: A People’s History”, the issue aims to change the perception of the neighborhood and the people that populate it.

“There are a lot of unfortunate stereotypes about the Downtown Eastside,” says Megaphone’s editor-in-chief, Sean Condon. “Many people have a tough time seeing beyond the drug use and poverty. But if you dig a little deeper, you’ll find a community bursting with spirit and compassion.”

The commemorative issue features stories on neighborhood successes like the United We Can bottle depot, which provides both economic and environmental benefits to the city, and the Hope In Shadows calendar project, which shows the community’s strong spirit. It also features articles from vendors and Downtown Eastside residents about their lives and the tremendous barriers they’ve overcome.

Vendors will pay $2 for each issue and sell the magazine throughout the city during the Olympic and Paralympic Games for a cost of $5 each. This special issue of Megaphone will help put thousands of dollars into the pockets of homeless and low-income people.

Megaphone’s goal is to create economic opportunities for homeless and low-income people while building grassroots support to end poverty. The publication of the special issue is meant to inform people in Vancouver and across the world about the street paper and the people it serves.

“With projects like Megaphone,” says Condon, “the neighborhood can continue to have a strong voice—one that positively impacts the lives of its low-income and homeless residents.”

The magazine’s launch will be held on Wednesday, February 3rd at the Interurban Gallery (1 E. Hastings) at 11 a.m. The event will be open to the public and will include snacks and drinks.

Speaking at the event will be Sean Condon, Irwin Oostindie, executive director of W2 (an organization profiled in this issue) and Dalannah Gail Bowen (who is the executive director of the Downtown Eastside Centre for the Arts and is a member of editorial advisory board for this special issue).

Megaphone vendors will be in attendance to pick up issues and new Megaphone carrier bags. They will also be available to speak to the media.

Bergen Mayor becomes Patron of Scottish-based, global street-paper network

PRESS RELEASE: Bergen Mayor becomes Patron of Scottish-based, global street-paper network

For immediate Release: Friday 29 ^th January 2010

Photo by Naturvernforbundet

Glasgow-based charity, the International Network of Street Papers (INSP) has been honoured by the public support of Mayor Gunnar Bakke of Bergen, Norway as he becomes the charity’s latest Patron. He joins the Lord Provost of Glasgow (Patron) and Reuters’ Editor-in-Chief, David Schlesinger (Honorary President) as the charity’s esteemed figureheads. The appointment of Mayor Bakke sees the development of INSP’s Patron scheme, involving Mayors and civic leaders worldwide who are committed to INSP’s mission to support street papers and homeless people in 38 countries.

Gunnar Bakke was introduced to INSP in 2009 during his support of the organisation’s 14^th annual conference in Bergen, co-hosted by the local street paper Megafon. He spoke of his admiration of street papers’ enterprising approach to poverty alleviation and expressed his interest in Megafon’s international connections through INSP.

Speaking of his new appointment as INSP Patron, Mayor Bakke said: “It is an honour and a privilege to be asked to be a Patron of the International Network of Street Papers. The organisation is doing an excellent job worldwide, providing a much needed voice to people who would otherwise not have one. Most importantly, street papers give homeless and disadvantaged people a means to earn a dignified living by helping them to help themselves.

“Through dedication to the less fortunate members of our communities and with a critical eye toward the ways in which our society is structured, street papers create understanding and a dialogue between different social groups and cut down harmful social barriers. By purchasing a street paper, we all support this good work.

“I personally hope that a larger number of politicians and policy-makers worldwide will recognise and support the successful work of INSP and street papers. I intend to use my position as Patron to help raise awareness about street papers, and the very important function they have in our society.”

INSP’s Executive Director, Lisa Maclean responded, “We are very proud to have a person as highly regarded as Mayor Bakke as a Patron of INSP. Mayor Bakke will help us to raise awareness of INSP’s work among communities in Norway and ultimately to strengthen our work providing hope and support to thousands of homeless people in cities around the world, particularly in developing countries.”

Thomas Anthun Neilsen, Editor of Bergen’s local street paper, Megafon added: “This will give Bergen and Megafon a chance to continue working alongside INSP to build and strengthen the organisation.  During the 2009 INSP conference we met a number of our fellow street papers colleagues and we talked a lot about how we could work together, across borders.  Now that our Mayor is a Patron for INSP we can contribute further by opening doors and creating awareness about the work INSP is doing to fight poverty.”

It is hoped that Mayor Bakke will follow in the footsteps of INSP’s other Patron, Glasgow’s Lord Provost Bob Winter, by hosting an awareness-raising and fundraising event for Bergen’s business leaders, political thinkers and media representatives later this year.

The exciting new appointment builds upon INSP’s ongoing work supporting 106 street papers, like the UK’s Big Issue, in 38 countries worldwide. INSP’s most recent achievements include helping to start up new street papers in countries such as Kenya, Zambia and Malawi  and developing a platform for the voiceless through its growing global, independent news service (Street News Service - www.streetnewsservice.org).

The International Network of Street Papers: www.street-papers.org

-Ends-

Criminalization of the Homeless

On December 7, 13 editors from street papers across North America joined a call to work on a joint article to shed light on an issue from a broader prospective.  What came from the meeting is below.  If you are interested in helping out or have questions email Greg Flannery, editor at Streetvibes in Cincinnati, Ohio.

I. What we’re doing:
Margo Pierce will write a story that will be 2,000 to 2,500 words long, exploring the criminalization of homelessness: what it means, how it plays out and creative responses in cities across the United States and Canada.

I’ll coordinate the gathering of local information from you for Margo’s use. I’ll edit her story and send it to all NASNA members who are interested.

Photo from cldodds

II. What we need from you:
We need your input: what’s going on in your city that criminalizes homelessness?

At the end of this e-mail you will find a complete list of information and questions. Please respond as soon as you can with any or all of this information.

III. What you’ll get as a result:
Margo will write a story containing the material you provide. She will also write the story for Streetvibes, showing how easily you can localize the story for your paper. While the Streetvibes story will have a Cincinnati focus, she plans to make it easy for you to change the opening paragraphs so that you can easily customize the story for your own readers, giving a national perspective with local relevance.

The schedule:

1. I need your local data, examples, quotations and photos no later than Fri., Jan. 8.

2. You will receive a draft of Margo’s article no later than Wed., Feb. 10.

3. I need to receive your final edited text no later than Friday, Feb. 19.

4. You will receive the final approved text, ready for publication at a date of your choosing, no later than Tuesday, Feb. 23. If you are able to return your edited text to me sooner than Feb. 19 I will be able to return it to you more quickly.

Please consider the following requests and forward any data, stories, anecdotes and direct quotes from local contacts:

What are the laws, policies and effect? For example, in Cincinnati, homeless people are often arrested for urinating in alleys, even though they have little choice. (The library is closed at night, and bars and restaurants don’t welcome homeless people.) In Denver, public urination can lead to registration as a sex offender. A Cincinnati law forbids churches from distributing food to people in a park frequented by homeless people. In many cities, it’s illegal to camp on public property or to sleep on a park bench. Laws in many cities restrict panhandling. In some cities, homeless camps have been razed and homeless people’s possessions destroyed.

We need anecdotes from your city. We need direct quotations from homeless people who have been arrested for doing things that people with homes due as a matter of course (urinating, drinking alcohol, sleeping) and from advocates or service providers commenting on the injustice and wastefulness of this practice. (Locking up people is expensive. Why not provide public toilets – or better still, supportive housing?)

We need examples of creative solutions. (In Cincinnati, lawyers for the Homeless Coalition negotiated an agreement with the city requiring police to give 72 hours’ notice before clearing a homeless camp.)

We need statistics: How many homeless people are arrested in your city for public consumption of alcohol or illegal camping, for example?

We need photos of people you interview for this story, with captions and photo credits.

Please remember: the deadline for information to be included in the article is Jan. 8.

Thanks!

Real Change DVD for Sale From Vendors

The Turning Points DVD has arrived and is for sale by Real Change Vendors.
If you need help finding a vendor near where you work or live check out Find a Vendor.

Description of Turning Points:
Our lives are constantly shaped by transitions – some positive, others negative, some life affirming, others crushing. All of us have stories to tell. In Turning Points we hear from eight homeless and formerly homeless Real Change vendors about the transitions in their lives. Whether its the strength of a relationship, the experience of war, or the salvation in finding community, each story illuminates the intense human ability to persevere against all odds.

Updated: New street paper launches in Philadelphia

Press release from One Step Away:

One Step Away, Philadelphia’s first street newspaper, gives voice of advocacy to city’s homeless

PHILADELPHIA (Dec. 15, 2009) – One Step Away, the first street newspaper in Philadelphia’s history, hits the streets with its debut issue, giving the city’s homeless a voice on issues of shelter and affordable housing.

One Step Away is a monthly tabloid produced and distributed by men and women without jobs or permanent shelter. Homeless men and women from the Ridge Shelter and the Woodstock Family Shelter in Philadelphia are producing most of the publication’s content and are selling the paper on street corners in the Philadelphia area.

“This is our voice,’’ said Robertus Duncan, one of the members of the newspaper’s editorial board.

Resources for Human Development, a national nonprofit human services organization headquartered in Philadelphia, is sponsoring the initial press run. RHD operates the Ridge and Woodstock programs and plans to invite other homeless programs in the city to participate in One Step Away as it grows.

All One Step Away street vendors sign an agreement to abide by a code of appropriate conduct. They pay RHD 25 cents to offset the printing cost of papers that they then offer to the public for $1 donations, keeping the difference.

“Homelessness and affordable housing have always been important issues to RHD,’’ said Bob Fishman, CEO and founder of Resources for Human Development. “We’re thrilled to help provide this opportunity for the residents of our shelters to productively earn money, while also elevating the plight of homelessness on the city’s social radar.”

There are 26 street newspapers across the country, according to the North American Street Newspaper Association, but according to Andy Freeze, NASNA executive director, One Step Away will be the first street newspaper in Philadelphia’s history.

These newspapers historically have provided a much-needed means of income for the most vulnerable members of society. They have also been valuable means of expression for stories, artwork and poetry.The name One Step Away was chosen by the homeless men and women who make up the paper’s editorial board. The name has a dual meaning: Many people are one step away from homelessness, and the homeless men and women producing this newspaper are one step away from getting off the street.

“Each newspaper people buy helps a lot of us get one step closer to independence,’’ said Rosa Bermudez, an OSA editorial board member.

Local press:

KYW Newsradio (Dec. 15)

Editor and Publisher (Dec. 15)

Examiner (Dec. 15)

Times Leader (Dec. 16)

Fox 43 (Dec. 15)

Evening Sun (Dec. 15)

Lebanon Daily News (Dec. 15)

Philly.com (Dec. 15)

CBS 3 (Dec. 15)

SNS – The disappeared (picture story)

by Leah Nash

Melissa Walsh is 30 years old and a Street Roots vendor. Diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome, a high-functioning form of autism, Melissa moved from Spokane in July with her husband Sean after they lost their home to foreclosure. In this revealing and personal photo shoot Leah Nash shows you the daily realities faced by Melissa. Melissa writes her feelings to help communicate. “I feel like I disappeared off the face of the Earth”, explains Melissa as she recalls the emotion of being fired. “I feel like I disappeared when my job did.” Leah Nash is a Portland-based photographer with a passion for documenting the everyday and the extreme, which she often finds are one and the same. She holds a master’s degree in photojournalism from the University of Missouri and in 2004 was awarded a Fulbright Grant to photograph the AIDS crisis in India.

Melissa Walsh is 30 years old and a Street Roots vendor. Diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome, a high-functioning form of autism, Melissa moved from Spokane in July with her husband Sean after they lost their home to foreclosure.

Melissa and her husband married five weeks after meeting. She thinks their relationships has survived the hard times because, “Neither of us can bring ourselves to give up on anything. That is our greatest weakness and our greatest strength. We will not quit.”

Moving to Portland because of its bike-friendly reputation, the Walsh’s brought only what they could carry on their backs. For the first few months, they lived in a one-bedroom apartment in Beaverton, but the $535 rent proved too high and they were forced to leave.

Check out more pictures after the jump and at the Street Roots blog.

SNS – We’ve lost sight of the value of healthy communities

By Paul Boden

Nili Yosha, Homeless Go Home, digital print

At some point in history, people will look back on American responses to homelessness during the ‘80s, ‘90s and early 2000s and most assuredly they will wonder: “What the hell were these people thinking?”

The notion that local governments can protect downtown business interests from having to bear witness to the realities of poverty by simply criminalizing the presence of poor people harkens back to the days of Jim Crow Laws, Anti-Okie laws, Alms houses and “Let them eat cake.”

From Portland’s sit-lie and anti-camping laws to Berkeley’s Public Commons for Everyone to L.A.’s Safer Cities Initiative and San Francisco’s perpetual “Matrix”-style police enforcement, we are seeing a hardening of the premise that public space is the purview of the Business community and that the only people who are seen to have any right to that space are those that the businesses see as potential customers or Condo tenants.

This concept is advancing to the stage of class warfare. Business Improvement Districts BIDs (sometimes calling themselves Community Benefits Districts) are able to self tax themselves and then control how those tax dollars are spent within their district: they hire security that are authorized to function in public areas (even though they are not under public oversight or monitoring), and they use the tax money they collect to directly lobby government. You have heard talk about “letting no crisis go to waste,” talk that within our current economic meltdown there is opportunity. But opportunity for whom?

SNS – Exclusive Bob Dylan Interview

By Bill Flanagan Picture Courtesy of Columbia Records

Interview by Bill Flanagan

Bob Dylan has at various times revolutionized folk, rock, country and gospel music.  However, any Dylan fan who says he was not surprised that Bob has released an album of traditional Christmas songs is pulling your leg.  Christmas In The Heart is another surprising move by an artist famous for surprises.  Yet when you hear Dylan’s direct and obviously sincere readings of “O Come All Ye Faithful,” “Little Town Of Bethlehem,” and “The First Noel,” this unlikely exercise seems of a piece with the rest of Dylan’s work.

From the very first, this was an artist who made us look at the familiar with new eyes and ears. While some critics tie themselves into knots analyzing Dylan’s motives, it has usually turned out that Bob Dylan means exactly what he says. Featuring members of his touring band along with Los Lobos’ David Hidalgo and Chess Records vet Phil Upchurch, Christmas In The Heart is Bob Dylan’s celebration of family, community, faith and shared memory. And a timely celebration it is. Recognizing the world wide problem of hunger, Bob Dylan has donated all of his proceeds from the record, in perpetuity, to organizations around the world to help with hunger and homelessness.

We sat down to talk in the Waterfront Plaza Hotel in Oakland on a rainy, windy, October day.

BILL FLANAGAN: Is recording a Christmas album something you’ve had on your mind for a while?

BOB DYLAN: Yeah, every so often it has crossed my mind. The idea was first brought to me by Walter Yetnikoff, back when he was President of Columbia Records.

How to use the World Street News

The INSP along with NASNA currently produce 3 Street News Service exclusive pieces each month.

• Worldwide Vendor Spotlight (published first Monday of the month)
• Global Voices (published first Monday of the month)
• World Street News (published third Monday of the month)

Below is my submission that will be published Monday for the WSN.  This month, we have changed it up slightly.  Previously NASNA submitted two news briefs and the INSP compiled two briefs and there were 4, 100 word briefs papers could use.

The new layout will provide a news brief from the six continents that have street papers and debut’s on Monday.

Who are your vendors?

I had an interesting question sent to me yesterday by Sean from Megaphone in Vancouver.  They had a young lady come in who wanted to be a vendor but who had not been homeless and was not currently homeless.  She was interested in selling Megaphone “because she loved the magazine.”

What are your requirements to be a vendor?  Do you have to be homeless or formerly homeless?  Do you let anyone who wants to become a vendor?  Is it spelled out in your orientation or vendor code of conduct?

Have potential vendors come to an orientation and you turned them away because they were not formerly or currently homeless?

Leave any suggestions or examples of how you have handled this in the comment section.