Lee: street-roots

INSP Awards: 2019 Winners Announced!

The winners of the 2019 INSP Awards have been revealed at the official Awards Ceremony, as part of the Global Street Paper Summit in Hannover, Germany.

Read Street Roots’ award-winning cultural feature: ‘She Shreds: Ripping up the rulebook on female guitarists’

Fabi Reyna is the editor of She Shreds, a groundbreaking magazine that is a revolutionary platform for female guitarists. Since being launched in 2013, the magazine has championed itself as being an inclusive space that celebrates female guitarists – a demographic that is often overlooked in the industry. Here, Reyna looks back on five years of success and contemplates what is in store in the magazine’s future. Last night at the 2019 INSP Awards, this piece won Best Cultural Feature. Now, you can read it in full.

Stress on the streets

All of us experience some degree of stress in our everyday lives. For those who are homeless, however, stress can be a debilitating and chronic issue. Street Roots talked to a number of individuals about their experiences of life on the streets and about the impact that stress has had on their lives. This is especially pertinent as delegates at this year’s ongoing Global Street Paper Summit talk about dealing with conflict and vendor welfare.

INSP Awards: Presenting the 2019 Best Cultural Feature Finalists

As the 2019 INSP Awards draws closer, we’re bringing you the Finalists in each category over this week and next, and we’re continuing today by announcing the Top 5 Entries for Best Cultural Feature.

“You have to wait in line constantly”

Portland’s Street Roots has a periodic column about the parts of homelessness most people don’t talk about. Here, vendors talk about how they’re “spending a hell of a lot of time” waiting around.

Street Roots vendors and attorneys partner for expungement pilot

The homeless community has long been the target of police action and prosecution, often creating an insurmountable backlog of tickets and non-violent misdemeanors that can effectively shut people off from safe housing, education and jobs, and perpetuating cycles of poverty. Portland’s Street Roots partnered with other organisations on a project aimed at helping vendors attain a clean slate.

Our vendors: Brian Lane (Street Roots, Portland, USA)

Brian Lane credits his Lummi Tribe heritage with helping him to recover from a traumatic injury: he feels that the spirit of his tribal lineage gave him the ability to pull through. Now homeless and living with a disability, Brian has found something else that is helping him to navigate his way through life: Street Roots. His involvement with the magazine has brought growth, support and the possibility of moving forward.

INSP Awards: The 2019 Best Cultural Feature Nominees Revealed

We’re continuing with our 2019 INSP Awards announcements, and today it’s the Top 10 Entries for Best Cultural Feature.

Sick with nowhere to go

Portland’s Street Roots has a periodic column about the parts of homelessness most people don’t talk about. In this instalment, vendors describe how a common cold can potentially turn into a life threatening illness when they have nowhere to go to recuperate while sick.

Surviving the cold

Portland’s Street Roots has a periodic column about the parts of homelessness most people don’t talk about. In this instalment, vendors talk about how they get through Portland winters on the streets, sometimes having to resort to novel, and in some cases dangerous, ideas.

The pain, cost and stigma of parasites from living on the streets

Portland’s Street Roots has started a periodic column about the parts of homelessness most people don’t talk about. In this instalment, now shared with INSP, vendors describe their experiences of picking up parasites and bugs, such as head lice and scabies, mainly at hostels and shelters, and the effect it has on an already difficult way of living.

Hello 2019! A round-up of January’s street paper covers from around the world

2019 is well and truly underway, and the new year has brought with it an impressive array of street paper covers to cast the winter blues away!

Our vendors: Jason Sheer (Street Roots, Portland, USA)

Jason Sheer has been involved with Street Roots for eight years and he credits the magazine with bringing an increased level of stability into his life. Here, he talks about his experience of homelessness and the support that he has received from Street Roots. He is hopeful about what the future will bring.

Homeless in a woman’s body

In the most recent count of the homeless community in Multnomah County, Oregon, 1,355 adult women were identified as homeless, making up 36 per cent of the total homeless population, a 16 per cent rise from the previous survey. Street Roots spoke to five of its vendors about what women living on the streets experience.

INSP Vendor Playlist: Street Roots vendors share the stories behind their selections.

This year we asked vendors: if you could give a song as a present this Christmas, what would you choose? The result was the INSP Vendor Playlist, which is now available for your listening pleasure. Street Roots vendors in Portland, Oregon, run through their choices.

Festive Front Pages: A round-up of covers, calendars and books being sold on the streets this Christmas

With the festive season in full swing and Christmas Day less than a week away, we take a moment to cast our eye over the street papers, calendars, books and other goodies on sale by vendors during December.

A round-up of November’s street paper covers

As the festive season approaches and we prepare to open the first door of our advent calendars, time to take a look back at the street paper covers that have been sold by our vendors in 34 countries around the world during November.

Doctor Who, Aretha and Anniversaries: A round-up of September’s street paper covers

As September draws to a close, we’re pausing for a moment to reflect on the impressive street paper covers that have been seen across the INSP network this month.

Our vendors: Gail Marcotte (Street Roots, Portland, USA)

Street Roots vendor Gail talks about her upbringing in New York, moving to Portland with her daughter and using selling the street paper to combat social isolation.

Vendor voices: Have you felt profiled by police?

This week, the 2018 INSP Global Street Paper Summit has been held in Glasgow, giving street paper staff from countries throughout the network the opportunity to discuss the issues affecting their vendors in our modern world. According to recent news reports in the US state of Portland, 52 per cent of all arrests last year in the Portland area were made against people on the streets, and 86 per cent of those were for non-violent violations. The city’s street paper, Street Roots, surveyed its vendor about their first-hand experience with law enforcement.

INSP Awards: Presenting the Finalists for Best Online Presence 2018

Today we bring you the first Finalists in our Impact categories, for the Best Online Presence from the street paper network.

INSP Awards: Introducing the 2018 Best Cultural Feature Nominees

We’re continuing with our 2018 INSP Awards announcements, and today we’re revealing the Top 10 Entries for Best Cultural Feature.

Our vendors: Tina Drake (Street Roots, Portland, USA)

Tina first arrived in Portland two and a half years ago and she now sells Street Roots from her pitch outside Target in Downtown Portland. Here, she reflects on her childhood struggle to reconcile her outer gender with her inner self, how welcoming Portland has been for her as a trans woman and the rich feeling of hope that her mother endowed her with.

February Feels: A round-up of street paper covers this month

With entries for the 2018 INSP Awards opening very soon, has February delivered us any potential winners in the Best Cover category?

Vendor moments 2017: “Just every day of 2017 was memorable”

As 2017 draws to a close, we asked vendors across the global street paper network to look back on the highs and lows of their year. Today, Paulette, a Street Roots vendor in Portland, explains that, despite getting on a bit, she is still full of a lust for life.

Street Roots’ Israel Bayer steps down as director after 15 years at the helm

After 15 years at Portland street paper Street Roots, Israel Bayer has stepped down from his position as director. Speaking to INSP, he reflects on his time there, what it has been like working as part of the global street paper network, and what’s next for him and the organisation.

Our vendors: Loretta H. (Street Roots, Portland, USA)

Loretta H. talks to Street Roots about her journey to becoming a Street Roots vendor and the ways in which selling the magazine is giving her hope for the future.

Our vendors: Wally and Chauncey (Street Roots, Portland, USA)

Wally and Chauncey are a Street Roots selling, comedy double act. But it hasn’t always been a laugh. Here, they tell the story of how they met.