Big Issue North has launched a news app which will feature stories from the north of England based magazine, social news organisations and other street papers. The long in development Street News is free to download and offers a monthly subscription service.

Thirteen years ago, Zeynab Ahmed, 31, fled Somalia after living in fear under the threat of the terrorist militia al-Shabaab. She has since built a life for herself: she lives with her husband and children in Münchenstein, Switzerland and sells Surprise. She sees her future as being in Switzerland but would dearly love to see her mother in Somalia one last time.

Vicky Tauli-Corpuz (of the Kankanaey Igorot community) went from organising Indigenous people in the Philippines to working with the UN to set up a framework for protecting Indigenous rights globally. A former UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, she spoke to INSP about Indigenous sovereignty, environmental conservation, and what gives her hope as the struggle continues. Also on the board of directors of Indigenous guardianship advocacy group Nia Tero, she recently featured in a poster campaign profiling female Indigenous leaders from communities across the world.

Memphis’s The Bridge is unique within the street paper network as it is entirely student run. Founded in 2013 by three Rhodes College students, it was inspired by nearby Nashville’s own street paper The Contributor. Here, the two collide, as The Contributor’s Maggie Youngs chatted to The Bridge executive team member Emma Figarsky about how it all works.

‘Empowering The Poor: Street Newspapers and their Global Impact’ was panel hosted by the Society of Journalists on Wednesday 18 August. Moderated by founder of Real Change and INSP board member Tim Harris, the discussion included members of staff from INSP and its associated member publications. Watch the panel again here.

INSP has partnered with Nia Tero, a non-profit which works with Indigenous communities to promote their work and culture, and social art and design lab Amplifier to make available posters profiling a group of female Indigenous leaders from communities across the world. The campaign launches today to mark International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples.

As she prepares to leave the Portland street paper after more than 18 years at the helm, Street Roots editor Joanne Zuhl talked to INSP about her lengthy stint leading one of the street paper network’s most established publications and where she leaves the paper after one of the most unpredictable years of her tenure.

This year’s Olympics arrives in Tokyo despite an ongoing pandemic and outrage from some of the city’s residents. Often those at the fringes of society are forgotten about when mammoth sporting events like this begin. The Big Issue Japan asked some of its vendors to share their thoughts on the approaching games and also their own personal sporting memories and achievements.

Joseph Malik spoke at the head of Black Lives Matter protests in Edinburgh last year as people marched against systemic racism. Since, the formerly homeless singer has had a stroke and made an album that filters the rage of Scotland’s Black community into soulful music.

Sea, sun, fun and solidarity. Shedia’s new venture, the summer English-edition of the Greek street paper, is hitting the streets of Athens, offering – among other things – visitors a unique guide to responsible tourism in Greece.

Portland street paper vendor Chris Drake discusses misconceptions about trans people and what visibility means to him.

9 May marks the anniversary of a speech by Robert Schuman, a French statesman who was one of the founders of what we recognise today as Europe, where he called for solidarity across borders. In this time of political division, and one even more divided by pandemic-imposed lockdowns, remembering this helps highlight efforts and achievements across Europe which contribute to making it a more inclusive, more democratic, more culturally aware, better place to live. The European Cultural Foundation is hoping to turn 9 May – what it’s billed as Europe Day – into a continent-wide holiday of togetherness. Few groups represent this kind of cohesion and unity as the street paper network.

Nový Prostor has a recurring feature where vendors talk about their pitch allows readers to discover the hidden stories of the places you pass by every day. Here, vendor Dagmar shares her experience of selling between the Lužiny and Luka metro stations in Prague and her life as a woman on the street.

Hungary’s street paper Fedél Nélkül has launched a campaign, in collaboration with other international organisations, that seeks to change the way homelessness and people on the street are visually portrayed. Bemoaning negatively charged images often used in the media to illustrate homelessness, the #LookTalkAct project will create an open source, free online collection of art and photos which will improve the visual appearance of publications covering homelessness, journalists, non-governmental organizations and activists.

Despite the uncertainty caused by pandemic lockdowns, Street Sense has made progress and is now going weekly. Located in the US capital, Street Sense Media will start publishing street papers every week starting today (14 April). This increase in frequency is also predicted to attract more vendors and increase their weekly earnings. Testimonials from vendors and INSP show excitement and anticipation for this growth in the street paper.

With Covid vaccines being rolled out differently across the world, that means marginalised and vulnerable communities in different parts of the world are receiving immunisation at different rates. But it does mean some good news: street paper vendors are beginning to receive the jab, and with the world opening up again, that’s more than welcome.

Brook Fadley discusses the lack of safe and accessible housing infrastructure in her op-ed, the last in a series in collaboration with housing advocacy group Community Change. She writes that many people are vulnerable to homelessness due to the pandemic and the government needs to step up to solve it, urging the Biden Administration to pass the New Deal for Housing Justice.

Idalia Rios discusses the definition of homelessness in this op-ed, the latest in a series in collaboration with housing advocacy group Community Change. To this immigrant mother, you can be homeless even if you have a roof over your head. She writes how proper housing, a foundation for a family, is a home. She urges the community to take action and to step into someone else’s shoes to provide more people with real homes.

Three in five college students in the United States faced problems like housing insecurity or hunger in 2020. Despite their effort to receive a higher education, many students are neglected by their institutions and the government in terms of basic needs. Strides are being made across the US by students and nonprofits to combat these issues.

Who doesn’t have a song that’s made a special impact on their life? The Curbside Chronicle reached out to musicians from across the US, as well as a few of their own street paper vendors, to weigh in on the tracks that have changed the way they look at the world.

In the second of a series of columns about the Housing Playbook initiative to influence policy direction in the US around housing and homelessness by advocacy group Community Change, Zella Knight, an LA County housing commissioner, writes about how those with experience of the system are integral to changing it.

Recently, the long gestating flower shop project of Oklahoma City street paper The Curbside Chronicle finally opened. Here, we take an inside look at the opening day of Curbside Flowers, in downtown Oklahoma City, which provides people transitioning out of homelessness a workplace for their blossoming talents — one bouquet at a time.

Tennis player Naomi Osaka rose to the summit of her sport by the age of 23. The three-time Grand Slam winner, who is Japanese-Haitian-American, drew particular attention last year when she wore masks emblazoned with the names of Black victims of police violence during the US Open, all while winning the tournament. In this wide-ranging interview during her preparations for the ongoing Australian Open, she spoke to INSP about her heritage, activism and using her platform for good.

In this Q&A, housing advocate and expert Andreanecia M. Morris talks with Community Change communications fellow Darryl Lorenzo Wellington about the US housing crisis and recommendations for the new administration and Congress as part of the Housing Playbook Project.

Chicago street paper StreetWise and digital storytelling organisation Rivet recently collaborated to produce Where I Stay, a serialised documentary exploring “invisible homelessness”, housing instability and economic injustice in the United States. It centres around Angelica, who was kicked out of her home at age 12 due to family dynamics, but never lived on the street. Prisons, Vegas condos, the living room of a drug queenpin and an inpatient facility for adolescents all followed. In this series of standalone articles to support the podcast, StreetWise meets Angelica and speaks with local experts on the subject of youth homelessness.

Vendors from The Big Issue Australia were tasked with writing letters of advice and wisdom to their younger selves in a twist on the long-running street paper feature.

Jamie Hӓnni, 23, collaborated with Swiss street paper Surprise for a one-shot five-minute film that showcases the unique stories of four individuals who sell the magazine.

13 German street papers, including INSP members, have banded together to demand that the country’s state and city officials use empty hotels to house those experiencing homelessness amid ongoing restrictions and “stay at home” pleas due to the coronavirus. A petition laying out their concerns has already reached over 2,500 signatures.