Results tagged “streetsense”

City Desk recently ran an item about how Street Sense, D.C.'s homeless newspaper, was one of the only local publications thriving during the recession. As a volunteer member of the board of directors of Street Sense, the piece made me cringe just a little bit, even though I get what reporter Chris Lewis was trying to say: more and more people are turning to jobs selling the paper, so circulation is up. But make no mistake, this has been an incredibly shaky year financially for Street Sense, just like every other non-profit in town. Grants and donations are down across the board, and the board has had to make difficult choices to keep the organization, which employs almost 100 area homeless men and women, afloat.

If you're a regular customer of Street Sense, D.C.'s only homeless newspaper, but have been frustrated over the years with its lackluster online offerings, be sure to check out the paper's recently redesigned web site, StreetSense.org. (Full disclosure: I'm a volunteer member of the board of directors of Street Sense, and consulted just a little bit on the design process of this site).

Since 2003, D.C. residents have been able to pick up a copy of the now bi-monthly newspaper Street Sense from a local vendor for a dollar. Inside, one finds in-depth reporting on issues of homelessness and poverty, profiles of vendors -- members of the homeless who make 75 cents off every paper sold -- information on services by shelters, veterans groups and other organizations, book reviews (the current issue tackles John Edwards' Ending Poverty in...

Via City Desk, the excellent homeless publication Street Sense scooped everyone on a big story about the potential closing of the District's largest family shelter, D.C. Village Family Emergency Shelter in southwest Washington. Under a new city proposal, the shelter could close sometime this fall, to be replaced by a bus operations center for WMATA in advance of the opening of the new Nationals stadium. From Street Sense: ...more than 350 ... people - mothers,...

Welcome back to work, Washington. It's the Monday after a jam-packed weekend of fun for many of us, and we understand as well as you do that there's nothing so disheartening as reporting to your desk knowing that good times won't be in sight again for another five full days. It is therefore in the spirit of distraction that we present to you the weekend's funniest, and yet saddest headline for you to mull over...

Hope you didn't stay up too late debating the President's speech with friends last night, Washington. We stayed up a bit past our bedtimes ourselves, mostly pondering the rhetorical significance of the difference between the phrases "mistakes were made", and "where mistakes have been made". Either way, we take full responsibility for any mistakes that were/have been made in this morning roundup, which was completed with the known unknown of the amount of sleep we...

This graffiti's sentiment notwithstanding, today the Democratic voters of the city will express their concerns and hopes for the city through their ballots, and, in the process, likely determine what most of the city's government will look like for the next few years. You can find your polling place here, and the Post's election guide here. Redskins Fall To Vikings: You probably don't need to be told, but we'll say it anyway. Last night the...

If you're looking for something to do tomorrow night, you may as well put your money towards supporting local music with a mission. Street Sense, a newspaper written and distributed by the homeless, is holding its annual benefit show at the Black Cat on Saturday night (even after the club balked at letting the show happen). Heading up the night's bill will be ex-Fugazi bass player Joe Lally, supported by Unbuckled alums The Hard Tomorrows and Fairfax-based Jinxed at Twelve. Cover at the door will set you back a mere $10, and all the money raised will go straight to the newspaper.

MONDAY:

You may have seen people hawking newspapers in the last year outside Metro stations who said it was to "help the homeless" and thought it was just a scam. If they were selling copies of the Street Sense newspaper, think again: the people behind the paper say at least six formerly homeless vendors of the paper "now have apartments of their own, and more than two dozen have started part time or full time jobs -- many of which were offered to them while selling the paper." Street Sense is D.C.'s version of a national phenomenon - newspapers written and edited by volunteers and homeless people, and sold by homeless vendors to provide them a way to make some money.