''Spare Change News'' (SCN) is a

street newspaper Street newspapers (or street papers) 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 issu ...

founded in 1992 in Boston, Massachusetts for the Greater Boston Area and published out of the editorial offices in

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston, ...

through the efforts of the Homeless Empowerment Project (HEP), a

grassroots A grassroots movement is one that uses the people in a given district, region or community as the basis for a political or economic movement. Grassroots movements and organizations use collective action from the local level to effect change at t ...

organization created to help end

homelessness Homelessness or houselessness – also known as a state of being unhoused or unsheltered – is the condition of lacking stable, safe, and adequate housing. People can be categorized as homeless if they are: * living on the streets, also kn ...

. The Homeless Empowerment Project is a

501(c)(3) A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of the 29 types of ...

not-for-profit corporation registered in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, with an annual budget in 2012 of $130,000 and six staff members, all part-time. The newspaper offices are headquartered in the

Old Cambridge Baptist Church The Old Cambridge Baptist Church is a historic American Baptist church at 400 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 ch ...

Operation

Since the founding of Spare Change News, the price of the newspaper has varied. Originally it was sold for $1 and the vendor paid 25 cents for a copy making a profit of 75 cents on each paper sold. As of September 2016, a vendor pays 50 cents for each copy of the paper, then sells it on the streets for $2. As a result, the vendor makes a $1.50 profit for each newspaper sold.Shearer, James
"VOICES FROM THE STREET: Change is Good"
''Spare Change News'', September 28, 2016 There are approximately 100 active vendors in the greater Boston area at any one time. Circulation is roughly 10,000 per issue. HEP/SCN rely on

grants Grant or Grants may refer to: Places *Grant County (disambiguation) Australia * Grant, Queensland, a locality in the Barcaldine Region, Queensland, Australia United Kingdom *Castle Grant United States * Grant, Alabama * Grant, Inyo County, ...

and

donations A donation is a gift for charity, humanitarian aid, or to benefit a cause. A donation may take various forms, including money, alms, services, or goods such as clothing, toys, food, or vehicles. A donation may satisfy medical needs such as b ...

to publish the newspaper, but the organization works to increase its advertising revenue to become self-sufficient.

History

The paper was started in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

in 1992 and was the brainchild of Tim Hobson, who enlisted the aid of twelve other homeless people Zauzner, Julie M.
"Making Change"
''

The Harvard Crimson ''The Harvard Crimson'' is the student newspaper of Harvard University and was founded in 1873. Run entirely by Harvard College undergraduates, it served for many years as the only daily newspaper in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Beginning in the f ...

'' Thursday, February 03, 2011Bayles, Cara
"Street Sheets: Whats Up Magazine finds a new home"
''

Weekly Dig ''DigBoston''—formerly known as the ''Weekly Dig'' and known colloquially as ''The Dig''—is a free alternative newspaper in Boston, Massachusetts. It covers news in the Greater Boston area and offers commentary on music, arts, politics, busin ...

'', Boston, February 27, 2008. and one housed advocate, Timothy Harris, who was a member and executive director of

Boston Jobs with Peace Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

.Mathieu, Paul
"The Early Years of Spare Change News: Insights From Its Founding Organizer"
, ''Spare Change News'', June 15, 2012. Recollections of founding organizer, Tim Harris, and other people involved early on. 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'' is a weekly progressive street newspaper based in Seattle, Washington, USA written by professional staff and sold by self-employed vendors, many of whom are homeless. The paper provides them with an alternative to panhandling an ...

'', a street newspaper in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region o ...

. The first issue of Spare Change News was published on Friday, 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"."Who We Are"
– Spare Change News website MIT Professor

Noam Chomsky Avram Noam Chomsky (born December 7, 1928) is an American public intellectual: a linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian, social critic, and political activist. Sometimes called "the father of modern linguistics", Chomsky i ...

, together with his friend, the historian

Howard Zinn Howard Zinn (August 24, 1922January 27, 2010) was an American historian, playwright, philosopher, socialist thinker and World War II veteran. He was chair of the history and social sciences department at Spelman College, and a politica ...

, were some of the first major supporters of Spare Change News.Kershner, Seth
"Noam Chomsky: The Spare Change News Interview"
, ''Spare Change News'', May 19, 2012 In June 1993, one of the founders, James L. Shearer, appeared before the

Boston City Council The Boston City Council is the legislative branch of government for the city of Boston, Massachusetts. It is made up of 13 members: 9 district representatives and 4 at-large members. Councillors are elected to two-year terms and there is no ...

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 The North American Street Newspaper Association (NASNA) was an organization of street newspapers that provided employment opportunities, community and a voice to homeless and other economically vulnerable people who existed between 2007 and 2013. ...

. In May 2004, Spare Change News hired journalis
Samuel Scott
who was a Boston University graduate as well as former

Boston Courant ''The Boston Courant'' was a weekly newspaper in Boston, whose coverage focused on issues of local interest to the Back Bay, Beacon Hill, Downtown, Fenway, South End, and Waterfront neighborhoods. It had a circulation of over 40,000. The ''Bost ...

reporter and Boston Globe editorial assistant, to be its first professional editor. He changed the tone of the paper from advocacy journalism to objective reporting on social issues and revamped it from a black-and-white broadsheet into a color tabloid. He was later executive director of the Homeless Empowerment Project. 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 ( , ) is a city and county seat of Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. Named after Worcester, England, the city's population was 206,518 at the 2020 census, making it the second- most populous city in New England after ...

edition of Spare Change News was launched. It is a collaboration of Spare Change News and the Worcester Homeless Action Committee. In July 2011, the newspaper replaced Adam Sennott with Tom Benner, a former head of the

Massachusetts State House The Massachusetts State House, also known as the Massachusetts Statehouse or the New State House, is the state capitol and seat of government for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, located in the Beacon Hill neighborhood of Boston. The buildin ...

bureau for ''

The Patriot Ledger ''The Patriot Ledger'' is a daily newspaper in Quincy, Massachusetts, that serves the South Shore. It publishes Monday through Saturday. Known for its thorough news coverage of the 26 communities south of Boston, ''The Patriot Ledger'' has won ...

'' as the new editor-in-chief. In June 2012, Vincent Flanagan, Esq., was appointed executive director of the Homeless Empowerment Project/Spare Change News.Sennott, Adam
"New Leader Appointed at Homeless Empowerment Project/Spare Change News"
, ''Spare Change News'', June 1, 2012 issue. In August 2012, the Reverend Osagyefo Uhuru Sekou, a

Pentecostal Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestantism, Protestant Charismatic Christianity, Charismatic Christian movement Church of God in Christ The Church of God in Christ (COGIC) is a Holiness– Pentecostal Christian denomination, and the largest Pentecostal denomination in the United States. Although an international and multi-ethnic religious organization, it has a predominantly ...

) Christian minister, community organizer, and activist who studied religion at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of highe ...

and Union Theological Seminary in New York, joined Spare Change News as Editor-in-Chief. In August 2015, Ms. Katherine Bennett was hired as executive director of HEP/SCN replacing Vincent Flanagan who had been on board for several years and had moved with his family out of state. Bennett, who is from the South Shore of Greater Boston, was involved in many homeless advocacy projects and was a journalist."Homeless Empowerment Project Welcomes New Executive Director"
press release, August 2015.Greenwell, Liam
"Flanagan Leaves Homeless Empowerment Project"
''Spare Change News'', August 10, 2015

References

External links

* {{Newspapers in Massachusetts Street newspapers Newspapers published in Massachusetts Publications established in 1992 1992 establishments in Massachusetts

Operation

History

See also

References

Further reading

External links