Lisa’s light shines at the Memphis street paper!

Photo of two people, holding the Memphis Bridge newspaper, with a purple tent and sign saying "The Bridge" in the background.

Henrieese Roberts

When I traveled to Memphis, Tennessee, for a photography venture, I was lucky enough to stumble across Jim and Lisa — part of the street paper family. They were sitting , smiling and giving warm greetings to passersby at the  Cooper-Young Community Farmers Market on a Saturday morning, located in a church parking lot.  

 Lisa was asking people for contributions with a greeting very similar to what some of us say while selling our Street Sense papers.  “Hi, would you like to support The Bridge?” she asked. 

 The Bridge was started by two Rhodes College students in 2013 to empower their neighbors facing extreme poverty. The students saw a street newspaper from another U.S. city and started The Bridge six months later. The paper’s Facebook page indicates that in August 2017, its vending team earned a combined total of  $135,000 through the donations they received for copies of The Bridge.   

 Rhodes College is a private liberal arts college on a 123-acre wooded site in Memphis. It has been named the most beautiful college in America. 

 The Cooper-Young Community Farmers Market was bustling and stays open 52 weeks a year. It had fresh produce, grass-fed meat, homegrown herbs, warm baked goods, artisan gifts, coffee, live music — everything you might expect.  So Jim secured permission to allow The Bridge vendor to have a presence there weekly. The team rotates to share the opportunity to represent The Bridge at the market throughout the year. 

 Jim purchased a tent, folding table and 3 chairs.  He provides weekly refreshments, papers for sale and older editions of The Bridge to give to those not familiar with the paper,  with the hope they might  buy a copy in the future. He uses rocks to keep the papers from flying away and creates signs made of wood, bottle caps and rope to attract customers.  

 The Bridge has 70 active vendors and many student volunteers writing, editing and developing the monthly paper. A weekly meeting is held to distribute papers to vendors and collaborate on stories. 

 It is amazing what people can create together. The street paper movement is truly empowering, through the work opportunities it creates, the community relationships it fosters, and the important content it shares. There are roughly 40 street papers in the United States. I hope more people will establish new papers in cities across the country. It was a fun morning in Memphis meeting Jim and Lisa of The Bridge. Jim, Lisa and the community shine a light in Memphis! 

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