After going online-only about three months ago, Street Sense Media is returning to print this week. The newspaper announced on Monday that its vendors will resume sales on July 1.
The paper previously suspended its biweekly print publication in late March to protect the health of vendors as the District shut down due to COVID-19 — the first time it had paused publication of the print edition in its 17-year history.
In its comeback memo, the paper’s team acknowledged the economic impact of the crisis on its vendors. “130 hardworking women and men sell Street Sense to earn income, secure more stable housing situations, and work towards a better future,” the announcement read in part. “Their grit and perseverance inspires us every day. We’re very glad our colleagues can get back to work.”
Street Sense CEO Brian Carome says the team has been watching the case numbers and are doing their best ensure worker safety as they return to printing. Vendors will be provided with free masks, which they will be required to wear, as well as hand sanitizer, and will undergo temperature checks.
Carome says before the crisis, Street Sense was printing around 9,000 papers per issue and selling roughly 7,500-8,500 of those. In March, that number dropped to around 6,000, and Carome says online readership has been even lower. As Street Sense brings print issues back, the team will start by printing just 4,500 copies, though he hopes they’ll have to do a second run.
The paper will also likely return with a smaller number of vendors at first. Carome says many of them are older and likely still sheltering in place, while the team has so far been unable to reach others.
In addition to reporting on D.C. housing inequality and insecurity, the “street paper” also features poetry, columns, and cartoons from people who are experiencing or have experienced homelessness, and allows them to work as vendors and distribute the papers throughout the city. The vendors purchase papers wholesale and then resell them to readers for a suggested donation, often between $5 and $10. Before the pandemic, vendors typically made $780 per month.
Carome says the economic impact has been immense, but the pandemic has impacted vendors in other ways, too. “We work with folks who are already ostracized and oftentimes isolated, disconnected from family in many cases,” he says. “So, the customers are a major source of social support for them, and that is equally important.”
In a video accompanying the announcement, Street Sense vendor Sybil Taylor talks about missing those interactions.
“I really miss the smiles of my customers,” she says. “I really miss the joy, happiness. You know, those customers make me very happy.”
Another vendor, Aida Peery, echoes that sentiment. “I miss you and I love you guys,” she says in the clip in a message to customers. “And I hope when all this pandemic mess is over with, we can give each other a big group hug.”
Carome says Street Sense has received “countless inquiries” from customers about the well-being of vendors, and donations have helped Street Sense Media make rent and utility payments and purchase medications for vendors who have lost the bulk or all of their income.
He says the print issues help build that sense of community and reach a broad number of readers that that the paper’s online presence did not match.
“[Running a newspaper] is only half the information, it’s got to be consumed,” he says. “And we are best consumed in print.”
