In an effort to expand its presence in the Washington region, Street Sense, the city’s nonprofit newspaper about the local homeless community, is doubling its publication schedule and hiring a full-time editor.
The monthly publication will begin publishing twice a month in February. The paper, launched in 2003, is sold by local homeless people who are looking for a way to earn an income. But because the paper published only 12 times a year, income would dwindle toward the end of the month for vendors.
“Vendors had been asking ‘When are you going to go bimonthly?’ ” said Laura Thompson Osuri, executive director of Street Sense. “Obviously [increasing the frequency] is more money for the vendors because the paper gets stale toward the end of the month.”
In order to go bimonthly, Street Sense raised more than $22,000 from individual donors to cover the increased printing costs. The publication’s $153,000 annual budget comes from private grants and donors.
There are currently about 50 Street Sense vendors. Vendors buy the papers for 25 cents to cover publishing costs and sell them for $1. Vendors can usually make about $30 to $40 per day, said Thompson Osuri.
While that is generally not enough for monthly expenses, Street Sense works with its vendors to link them up with appropriate social services. In fact, the nonprofit recently hired a vendor manager to facilitate those connections.
The paper is also planning on working to raise its profile in 2007 by increasing its ad revenue, a job that will be given to the Street Sense vendors.
The paper typically sells most of the 13,000 copies it prints each month, but many Washingtonians still aren’t aware of it, said Thompson Osuri.
“Not a lot of people know about it,” she said. “Even when one person buys it, there are nine or 10 people who walk by.”
