What is the vision of Street Roots?
At the heart of Street Roots and every street newspaper are the vendors selling the newspaper. Providing people the opportunity to earn a dignified income is at the heart of everything we do.
People from all walks of life and backgrounds come to Street Roots in search of a new day. The concept is simple. Individuals work with Street Roots and local businesses to sell the newspaper. Street Roots uses an old Catholic Worker philosophy developed by Dorothy Day that prescribes to the idea of meeting people where they are. We start from a place of trust and work from there.
Street Roots works with some of the hardest brothers and sisters on the block — offering individuals the opportunity to earn an income and embrace community is what we do.
We live by some pretty simple rules when it comes to training people to sell the newspaper and to be a part of the Street Roots community. Vendors go through a 45-minute vendor orientation, including a video created by vendors themselves to give people tips for how to be successful. We then go over the rules and regulation of public sidewalks and work with individuals to find a sales location.
After that, it’s all about embracing love. Sound cheesy? It’s not. Poverty is traumatic. The world is violent. Homelessness is cruel. The only way to combat these realities is with unconditional love.
Everything we do works toward the idea of treating people with kindness. We are a community without judgment, no matter how hard the road ahead might be. Enduring poverty on one hand and embracing love on the other is very hard work. It’s the work we do each day, collectively, at Street Roots. It’s why we walk the long road.
Delivering a quality newspaper is something we don’t take lightly. We understand from experience that people, for better or worse, expect less from a street newspaper. When we are able to deliver more, it not only serves as a tool for vendors to be more successful, it also serves the larger community to tackle some of the most important social justice issues facing our community.
We work hard to deliver Portlanders and the region a newspaper that looks at the issues of homelessness and poverty along with a range of different issues in a way that everyone is engaged. From the reader, to vendors experiencing poverty, to the systems approach to tackling the problem — we believe everyone should be on the bus.
Do we always get it right? Of course we don’t, we’re human. There will always be stories of failure peppered between the stories of triumph. It’s what makes us grow and learn and become better at the work we do. For every person we see overcome the harsh realities of poverty, there’s another that walks through our door struggling to survive.
So what is the vision of Street Roots? Beyond going to a weekly publication, or improving systems, or developing new ways of supporting people — it’s you, it’s me, it’s all of us working toward ending people’s suffering. With that comes a great responsibility. With each new relationship built and each newspaper sold we are changing the way people think about and engage with poverty. We are changing people’s lives. We thank you!