At the beginning of August about 50 representatives from street papers across the United States and Canada met in Denver to learn from each other and come up with new ideas to improve street newspapers and the lives of the vendors they serve. This NASNA (North American Street Newspaper Association) conference was titled “Navigating the Recession,” and while the workshops were more broadly focused on general operation of street papers, the recession and the struggles that followed were at the top of everyone’s mind.
The editor of Boston’s Spare Change told me how the paper nearly ran out of money and had to fire all its staff. The paper is now being run by a graduate student working for a stipend. The new executive director from Chicago’s Streetwise joined when the paper was going into debt. He put out the “red flag” to donors threatening the paper’s closure, and ended up raising well above and beyond what they needed. The director of Street Roots in Portland, Ore., explained that their individual donations dropped off considerably, so the organization decided to halt any new programs. The scrappy Contributor in Nashville said that they only had $92 in the bank, but continued to put out a quality paper and bring on new vendors with a completely volunteer run staff.
And I of course shared the Street Sense story of how in April we let our readers know about our tight finances with the “Nonprofits in Peril” issue and got an amazing response of support from our readers.
While all of these stories may sound quite unfortunate, I see them as hopeful, as not one street paper had to shut its doors or even skip an issue. During this difficult economic time when large nonprofits like the Hoop Dreams Scholarship Fund have shut their doors, and others like the Boys and Girls Club have drastically cut their services because of financial strains, street papers all across the country are figuring out ways to make due and stay afloat.
How is it that street papers can survive these tight financial times where other nonprofits can’t?
The answer, I think, goes back to the grassroots origins of most every street paper in North America. Most street papers in the United States and Canada were founded by energetic and passionate people. They were dedicated volunteers and homeless individuals, with little money but lots of writing and design skills. So they became very adept and using volunteer help, begging for donations and forging for free office supplies and computers, while all along putting out a sleek, quality paper.
Even though many street papers now have proper offices, upgraded technology systems, and a handful of paid staff, they have not forgotten their roots. And when times get tough, as they have been over the last year, street papers can revert back to their shoestring ways – and still look good doing so.
Street Sense appears to be on the financial upswing now and I am confident the street papers mentioned above will follow suit. But we have no plans for a new company jet – nor even new desks – and will simply use any excess cash to go back into more grassroots programs to help improve the lives of vendors. We will still save un-canceled stamps and reuse paper clips because it’s just in our blood.
