Spare Change
Encyclopedia
Spare Change News is a street newspaper
founded in 1992 and published in Cambridge, Massachusetts
through the efforts of the Homeless Empowerment Project (HEP), a grassroots
organization created to help end homelessness
.
The newspaper offices are headquartered in the Old Cambridge Baptist Church
.
The mission of the Homeless Empowerment Project (HEP) is "to empower the economically disadvantaged in Greater Boston through self-employment, skill development, and self-expression. To create forums, including those of independent media in order to reshape public perception of poverty and homelessness."
1. As a result, the vendor makes a 75-cent profit for each newspaper sold.
There are approximately 100 active vendors in the greater Boston area at any one time.
The biweekly, 16-page paper contains a color front and back page, alternative news, arts features, interviews, fiction and poetry that are written by staff writers and journalists, as well as by people who are homeless or work with the homeless. A full page is devoted to listings of local centers for job/skills training, senior care, women's care, drug
recovery programs and homeless shelters.
Circulation
is roughly 10,000 per issue. HEP/SCN rely on grants
and donations to publish the newspaper, but the organization works to increase its advertising revenue to become self-sufficient.
in 1992 and was the brainchild of Tim Hobson, who enlisted the aid of twelve other homeless people and one housed advocate, Timothy Harris, who was a member and Executive Director of Boston Jobs with Peace. In 1994, Harris would go on to use the model of Spare Change News and the Homeless Empowerment Project to found Real Change
, a street newspaper in Seattle.
The first issue was published on May 8, 1992.
The newspaper's first managing editor, Tim Hobson, said at its founding that it would be "heavy on politics as well as discussion of homeless empowerment". He also said an important goal was to "put a face on the homeless to show that we're human beings".
In June 1993, one of the founders, James L. Shearer, appeared before the Boston City Council
to accept a special commendation on behalf of Spare Change as the newspaper celebrated its one-year anniversary.
In July 2002, Spare Change News and the Homeless Empowerment Project hosted the Seventh Annual Conference of the North American Street Newspaper Association
.
In November 2007, Boston's South End street newspaper Whats Up Magazine disbanded and merged into Spare Change News under the umbrella of the Homeless Empowerment Project. On February 28, 2008, Whats Up published their first 4-page insert inside Spare Change News.
In 2008, Spare Change News received a grant from The Harbus Foundation of Harvard University Business School, to use it "to support a long-term marketing strategy to increase the awareness of the organization amongst the general public and generate broader distribution and commensurate aid for its vendors."
In October 2010, a Worcester, Massachusetts
edition of Spare Change News was launched. It is a collaboration of Spare Change News and the Worcester Homeless Action Committee.
in Portland, Oregon
.
Street newspaper
Street newspapers are newspapers or magazines sold by homeless or poor individuals and produced mainly to support these populations. Most such newspapers primarily provide coverage about homelessness and poverty-related issues, and seek to strengthen social networks within homeless communities...
founded in 1992 and published in Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...
through the efforts of the Homeless Empowerment Project (HEP), a grassroots
Grassroots
A grassroots movement is one driven by the politics of a community. The term implies that the creation of the movement and the group supporting it are natural and spontaneous, highlighting the differences between this and a movement that is orchestrated by traditional power structures...
organization created to help end homelessness
Homelessness
Homelessness describes the condition of people without a regular dwelling. People who are homeless are unable or unwilling to acquire and maintain regular, safe, and adequate housing, or lack "fixed, regular, and adequate night-time residence." The legal definition of "homeless" varies from country...
.
The newspaper offices are headquartered in the Old Cambridge Baptist Church
Old Cambridge Baptist Church
Old Cambridge Baptist Church is an historic Baptist church at 398 Harvard Street in Cambridge, Massachusetts.The congregation was founded in 1844 when several members of First Baptist Church in Cambridge decided to start a new church. The original meeting house was sold to the Congregationalists...
.
Mission statements
The mission of Spare Change News is "to present, by our own example, that homeless and economically disadvantaged people, with the proper resources, empowerment, opportunity, and encouragement are capable of creating change for ourselves in society."The mission of the Homeless Empowerment Project (HEP) is "to empower the economically disadvantaged in Greater Boston through self-employment, skill development, and self-expression. To create forums, including those of independent media in order to reshape public perception of poverty and homelessness."
Operation
Each vendor pays 25 cents for each copy of the paper, then sells it on the streets for US$United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
1. As a result, the vendor makes a 75-cent profit for each newspaper sold.
There are approximately 100 active vendors in the greater Boston area at any one time.
The biweekly, 16-page paper contains a color front and back page, alternative news, arts features, interviews, fiction and poetry that are written by staff writers and journalists, as well as by people who are homeless or work with the homeless. A full page is devoted to listings of local centers for job/skills training, senior care, women's care, drug
Drug
A drug, broadly speaking, is any substance that, when absorbed into the body of a living organism, alters normal bodily function. There is no single, precise definition, as there are different meanings in drug control law, government regulations, medicine, and colloquial usage.In pharmacology, a...
recovery programs and homeless shelters.
Circulation
Newspaper circulation
A newspaper's circulation is the number of copies it distributes on an average day. Circulation is one of the principal factors used to set advertising rates. Circulation is not always the same as copies sold, often called paid circulation, since some newspapers are distributed without cost to the...
is roughly 10,000 per issue. HEP/SCN rely on grants
Grant (money)
Grants are funds disbursed by one party , often a Government Department, Corporation, Foundation or Trust, to a recipient, often a nonprofit entity, educational institution, business or an individual. In order to receive a grant, some form of "Grant Writing" often referred to as either a proposal...
and donations to publish the newspaper, but the organization works to increase its advertising revenue to become self-sufficient.
History
The paper was started in BostonBoston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
in 1992 and was the brainchild of Tim Hobson, who enlisted the aid of twelve other homeless people and one housed advocate, Timothy Harris, who was a member and Executive Director of Boston Jobs with Peace. In 1994, Harris would go on to use the model of Spare Change News and the Homeless Empowerment Project to found Real Change
Real Change
Real Change is a weekly street newspaper based in Seattle, Washington, USA. It is sold by the poor, many of whom are homeless, providing them an alternative to panhandling. It is written and produced, however, by professional staff, and covers mainstream news as well as homelessness issues...
, a street newspaper in Seattle.
The first issue was published on May 8, 1992.
The newspaper's first managing editor, Tim Hobson, said at its founding that it would be "heavy on politics as well as discussion of homeless empowerment". He also said an important goal was to "put a face on the homeless to show that we're human beings".
In June 1993, one of the founders, James L. Shearer, appeared before the Boston City Council
Boston City Council
The Boston City Council is the legislative branch of government for the city of Boston. It is made up of 13 members: 9 district representatives and 4 at-large members. Councilors are elected to two-year terms and there is no limit on the number of terms an individual can serve...
to accept a special commendation on behalf of Spare Change as the newspaper celebrated its one-year anniversary.
In July 2002, Spare Change News and the Homeless Empowerment Project hosted the Seventh Annual Conference of the North American Street Newspaper Association
North American Street Newspaper Association
The North American Street Newspaper Association is an organization of street newspapers papers that provide employment opportunities, community, and a voice to homeless and other economically vulnerable people. it has 28 members in the United States and Canada with a total monthly circulation of...
.
In November 2007, Boston's South End street newspaper Whats Up Magazine disbanded and merged into Spare Change News under the umbrella of the Homeless Empowerment Project. On February 28, 2008, Whats Up published their first 4-page insert inside Spare Change News.
In 2008, Spare Change News received a grant from The Harbus Foundation of Harvard University Business School, to use it "to support a long-term marketing strategy to increase the awareness of the organization amongst the general public and generate broader distribution and commensurate aid for its vendors."
In October 2010, a Worcester, Massachusetts
Worcester, Massachusetts
Worcester is a city and the county seat of Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. Named after Worcester, England, as of the 2010 Census the city's population is 181,045, making it the second largest city in New England after Boston....
edition of Spare Change News was launched. It is a collaboration of Spare Change News and the Worcester Homeless Action Committee.
Hub Resource Guide
In August, 2011, HEP/SCN launched the publication of The Hub Resource Guide, a pocket-sized handbook of resources and services in and around Boston. It is similar in concept to the The Rose City Resource published by Street RootsStreet Roots
Street Roots is a biweekly street newspaper published in Portland, Oregon, United States. The paper is sold by members of the local homeless community. The paper is published every two weeks on Fridays. Vendors receive 75 cents for every $1 paper they sell...
in Portland, Oregon
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
.
Interviews
- Sophia BushSophia BushSophia Anna Bush is an American actress, director and spokesperson. She currently stars in the CW television series One Tree Hill where she portrays Brooke Davis. Bush is additionally known for her film portrayals in the 2007 remake The Hitcher, John Tucker Must Die and The Narrows.-Early...
- actress, director and spokesperson - Noam ChomskyNoam ChomskyAvram Noam Chomsky is an American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, and activist. He is an Institute Professor and Professor in the Department of Linguistics & Philosophy at MIT, where he has worked for over 50 years. Chomsky has been described as the "father of modern linguistics" and...
- activist and professor - Gail CollinsGail CollinsGail Gleason Collins is an American journalist, op-ed columnist and author, most recognized for her work with the New York Times. Joining the Times in 1995 as a member of the editorial board, from 2001 to 2007 she served as the paper's Editorial Page Editor – the first woman to attain that position...
- journalist and writer - Michael DukakisMichael DukakisMichael Stanley Dukakis served as the 65th and 67th Governor of Massachusetts from 1975–1979 and from 1983–1991, and was the Democratic presidential nominee in 1988. He was born to Greek immigrants in Brookline, Massachusetts, also the birthplace of John F. Kennedy, and was the longest serving...
- presidential candidate and Governor of Massachusetts - Edward GlaeserEdward GlaeserEdward Ludwig "Ed" Glaeser is an economist at Harvard University. He was educated at The Collegiate School in New York City before obtaining his B.A. in economics from Princeton University and his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Chicago...
- Harvard economist - Carl LewisCarl LewisFrederick Carlton "Carl" Lewis is an American former track and field athlete, who won 10 Olympic medals including 9 gold, and 10 World Championships medals, of which 8 were gold. His career spanned from 1979 when he first achieved a world ranking to 1996 when he last won an Olympic title and...
- Olympic gold medal winning athlete - Kate MillettKate MillettKate Millett is an American lesbian feminist writer and activist. A seminal influence on second-wave feminism, Millet is best known for her 1970 book Sexual Politics.-Career:...
- writer - Tim Murray - Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts
- Deval PatrickDeval PatrickDeval Laurdine Patrick is the 71st and current Governor of Massachusetts. A member of the Democratic Party, Patrick served as an Assistant United States Attorney General under President Bill Clinton...
- Governor of Massachusetts - Howard ZinnHoward ZinnHoward Zinn was an American historian, academic, author, playwright, and social activist. Before and during his tenure as a political science professor at Boston University from 1964-88 he wrote more than 20 books, which included his best-selling and influential A People's History of the United...
- historian
Further reading
- "Spare Change Adds Up", Bunker Hill Community College Magazine, Boston, Summer/Fall 2010 issue, p.32
- Friedman, Anna M.; Bensson, Anne E., "Vendor Asks Square To ‘Spare Change'", The Harvard CrimsonThe Harvard CrimsonThe Harvard Crimson, the daily student newspaper of Harvard University, was founded in 1873. It is the only daily newspaper in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and is run entirely by Harvard College undergraduates...
newspaper, March 23, 2005 - Kaye, Lucinda, "Spare Change: Voice of the Homeless", Peacework magazine, June 1, 1996
- Ortiz, David, "Newspaper that helps the homeless helps itself: Things are changing at Spare Change", The MetroWest Daily News, Thursday, August 2, 2001
- Saginaw, Michael A., "IAP Activity Gives Students Chance to Help Homeless", The Tech, Massachusetts Institute of Technology newspaper, January 29, 1993. p.15. Byron H. Paladin, a founder of Spare Change News speaks about homelessness to MIT students.
- Simpson, April, "Voice of Homeless Struggles to Stay Afloat: Lagging Sales Hit Nonprofit Paper", The Boston Globe, July 3, 2005.
External links
- Spare Change News sample newspaper issues (editions online as PDF files)