The North American Street Newspaper Association and Alternet.org have jointly launched the Street News Service.
SNS is a gateway to the best articles, essays and features written by and about homeless and low-income people. These articles are collected from the pages of street newspapers—enterprising publications produced by low-income communities in over 40 cities across North America. Street newspapers serve a vital role in these cities, giving homeless people meaningful work, educating citizens about poverty issues, and breaking important news stories.
The HHPTF was alerted to this new resource by “Street Librarian” Chris Dodge, a librarian and writer with Utne in Minneapolis.
For a primer on street newspapers, including reasons to carry them in your library, read Dodge’s “Words on the Street: Homeless People’s Newspapers.” It begins:
If, as journalist A. J. Liebling declared, freedom of the press belongs to those who own one, where can we find the real thoughts of people who can’t afford to produce their own publications? How exactly are they speaking out? Where do you go to read firsthand about the real issues affecting their lives, or how public libraries can help them or what resources they need from us? An answer, and one that librarians should acquaint themselves with, is street newspapers.
* * *