Janine Bandcroft, who publishes Street Newz – a Canadian street paper, contacted Bartle Bogle Hegarty’s Labs (BBH) directly to clarify some points about the Homeless Hotspots project.
Street Newz: Were you satisfied with the Austin experiment? Will you be proceeding with the project in other cities?
BBH: The Austin program had two primary success metrics, both tied to some of the key benefits of
street newspapers. The first was the total number of social interactions each of the participants
had, specifically those opportunities they got to tell their story and be treated with respect and
dignity by a group that tends to make them invisible during conferences like SXSW. By that metric,
the program was overwhelmingly successful.
The second metric is in the money raised for the participants. … We can confirm that the $50 we
guaranteed each participant for their 4 to 6 hour shifts has been delivered upon.
In reality though, I think we all truly identify success as seeing a street newspaper, or potentially a shelter, benefit from the pilot program in Austin, taking what worked, ignoring what they didn’t, and building upon the conversation all of this generated to give an even broader voice to the homeless population.
Street Newz: I understand that ‘vendors’ were paid $20 a day, and I notice there’s a paypal option off your web- site with ‘Clarence’ in the reference line… How many hours did they work for the $20? Will Clarence or the other vendors be entitled to a portion of any of the paypal donations?
BBH: Unfortunately, the early media coverage was inaccurate in its portrayal of the program and our
close partnership with the Front Steps shelter in Austin, which led to misinformation about how the
participants would be compensated. From the outset, all program participants were guaranteed to
make at least $50 USD per 4-6 hour shift daily, which is well above Texas minimum wage. The program’s finances were constructed hand in hand with the case managers at Front Steps, who advised in detail to A) ensure the participants were fairly compensated; and B) account for the tremendous responsibility that comes from handing over-disproportionately large amounts of money to individuals navigating a transition period in life.
It is important to clarify that the re- ported $20 was an upfront cash stipend paid to the participants at the end of each day worked and was the amount recommended by the Front Steps case managers. The remainder of the participants’ compensation will be closely managed in partnership with their case managers, and as I said in answer to your first question, will amount to more than the guaranteed $50/6-hours. To be clear – and as reported on our BBHLabs blog – every single dollar generated by this program will be paid to the homeless participants. Also, if you see “Clarence” in the PayPal reference line, you are clicking on Clarence’s Hotspot button. If you are visiting the other hotspot managers locations, you would be donating to them directly as individuals and see their name.
Street Newz: When people buy a street newspaper, it’s often because they’re interested in reading the paper itself. I understand that hotspots provide internet access to anything a person wants at that particular moment – will your homeless hotspot vendors provide
street wifi access to [any website]?
BBH: Your point about content creation is a very important one, and frankly the weakest element
of our program. I personally had a chance to discuss this issue with John Bird, who founded Big
Issue and is often credited with creating the model we were hop- ing to help. John brought to light
the very important fact that many home- less individuals are local experts. I know I saw this
first-hand when I had most participants ignore our recom- mendations on where to look for sales and
choose what turned out to be much smarter, effective sales locations that can only be attributed to
them truly understand those places in downtown Austin people are likely to congregate in need of
internet connectivity.
Like any internet cafe or access point, once the customer leaves the initial homelesshotspots.org
site, they can navigate any part of the web they’d like. We did however use typical hotel and local
standards when crafting the Terms & Conditions of usage.
To see more of Street Newz, visit
http://RelativeNewz.ca.
