CITY LIMITS: For the People, By the People

A newspaper has allowed some of Philadelphia's homeless to fight the power of the streets with the power of the pen. Many people who have lived in shelters or been homeless talk about the overwhelming powers of the streets – the temptation to abuse drugs, to quit the shelter system and avoid its drug and alcohol regulations. In the past 18 months, however, many Philadelphia shelter residents and homeless people have also begun to talk about the power of the pen. Solomon Jones spent six months at the Ridge Avenue Shelter, recovering from a period of substance abuse. The only activities offered by the shelter, he said, were mandatory meetings that "sort of drive you crazy." But last January, Jones began writing for Shelter News and Views, a monthly newspaper written for and by shelter residents. The newspaper's primary goals are to provide updated lists of job and educational opportunities, and to report news and issues relevant to the city's homeless and shelter residents. But in Shelter News and Views, many shelter residents have found a sort of emotional and creative shelter as well. Many of the paper's writers say that in a culture that so often scorns the homeless, the newsletter provides a medium for their poetry and art, and a place to record their personal experiences in the shelter and on the streets. Writing for Shelter News and Views has enabled Jones to rediscover a talent that had lain dormant during the months he was recovering from substance abuse. He said that he had felt the need to release pent-up feelings even before the newspaper was started. "I was doing some poetry stuff before [the newspaper] came along," said Jones, the newspaper's poetry editor. "It was more of a release of some feelings that I had had for awhile, that I needed an outlet for." Jones had spent a year in Temple's journalism program before his time in the shelter. Writing for Shelter News and Views re-tapped his interest in writing and helped him return to school. And while the newspaper helped Jones rediscover his interest in writing, it also offers children an opportunity to form their own newfound talents. Besides the editorials, articles and job listings, the newspaper also houses a small niche for children's thoughts. Ten-year-old Zakeenah Griffin writes poems for the newspaper, because "it's fun." Shelter News and Views printed one of her poems in the February/March issue, and will soon publish three more. She and her friend, 10-year-old Tiffany Briscoa, plan to write stories together for the newspaper as well. Dawn Saperstein, business editor and one of the newspaper's executive editors, described the extent of the interest the recruitment for writers usually generates. She was surprised to learn that so many shelter residents write poetry. But most people though, she says, just want their stories to be told. "A lot of people would love to tell Sue [Jacobs, the executive editor] or I their stories and have us write them," said Saperstein, a 1990 Wharton graduate. Some writers say they became involved in the newspaper not so much for the writing opportunities, but for the structure and organization such a project offers. Joan Griffin, who left the shelter last January, said she began writing for the paper because she "thought it would help me get myself together. It kept me motivated in the shelter." But the editors say while writing the articles can serve as a sort of catharsis – a release of the pain and disorder that so often accompanies homelessness – the pieces in the newspaper serve as a sort of relief to the readers as well. Jones said he found working on the newspaper to be "a means to get involved in something positive," but he also feels his commitment to the paper has helped set a strong example for other shelter residents. Shelter residents, he said, will look at him and say, "If you can do it I can do it." The Rev. Gaius Jenkins, one of paper's managing editors, distributes the paper to the shelters after it is printed each month. He talked about the eagerness with which shelter residents greet the newspaper when he delivers it. "The effect that I've seen from the newspaper is that it gives other individuals who read the paper a sense of identity," he said. "When they read about someone in a shelter that is or has gone through what they are going through . . . it encourages hope." Philadelphia is one of several cities that has witnessed the development of a newspaper as a response to homelessness. Shelter News and Views has a relatively small circulation because it caters primarily to shelter residents. But in Boston, Chicago and New York, newspapers devoted to issues affecting the homeless have garnered considerable circulation. Homeless vendors sell the newspapers in populated city areas, usually to non-homeless readers who work in the area. Vendors are sometimes able to sell as many as 2,000 copies a month. The first newspaper of this type was started in New York in 1989. When the newspaper failed, a new publisher took it over and helped it flourished into a thriving business. Vendors buy each copy for 35 cents and resell it for a dollar. Last year, Chicago's StreetWise was modeled after Street News. It gleans most of its writing from volunteer writers. Two of its sections include a column by one of the vendors, and "Streetwords," a section of poems by homeless men and women. People buy the paper and resell it at a profit. "Being able to sell a paper gives them self-esteem," said Mandy Toler, an administrative assistant at StreetWise. Toler said StreetWise generally has 1700 vendors registered to sell the paper. Of these vendors, she said, there have been "a number of vendors who have gone on to get steady employment and stable housing." Being able to earn their own income, said Toler, "gives them a lot more confidence." Boston's Spare Change is the only newspaper of this type in which all writing and all editorial decisions are made solely by homeless and formerly homeless people. Spare Change was conceived "by eight people in McDonald's, trying to stay out of the cold," said managing editor James Shears. The mission of the paper, Shears said, is "to empower ourselves." It is also to inform the general public at large about what happens in homeless shelters. Through the newspaper, Shears said, many homeless people have been able to shake themselves of common stereotypes about the homeless. Seventy-five percent of the people who have worked for the paper are now off the streets and twenty percent of them, Shears said, now have permanent jobs. The various newspapers that cater to the homeless and to shelter residents all vary in number and in scope. Shelter News and Views, for instance, is considerably smaller than the newspapers sold in New York, Boston, and Chicago. Yet editors of all discuss similar missions. Like Shears, Jenkins also talked about the social stigma and the subsequent low self-esteem which frequently accompany living in a shelter or on the street. He writes "The Chaplain's Corner" in Shelter News and Views, whose main objective is "to try to remove the stigma that has been placed on homeless people." His goal, he added, is to "have them reflect in a spiritual aspect that they have some . . . qualities to their character." Despite the similar missions, however, the relative smallness of Shelter News and Views has caused the publication to run into some problems which the other larger and more lucrative newspapers have not. In recent months, the newspaper has lost many of its writers. Some have moved on, found their way out of the shelter system and into apartments and jobs. Many, though, are victims of the change of focus which the Ridge Avenue Shelter has been forced to take. Since the building of the Convention Center, the city has sought to move the homeless out of the Center City area. It has begun to use the Ridge Avenue Shelter as a transitional home, where residents remain for only 30 days and are then moved to other shelters, the newspaper's editors say. The city has "to get the people off the streets in order to help bring more convention center business in," Saperstein said. Still, Jacobs and Saperstein said they hope to interest some volunteers, preferably college students, in helping them recruit writers from some of the more permanent shelters. And even now, there are still some die-hard writers, shelter and ex-shelter residents who are grateful to the newspaper for helping them reorganize their daily lives. Last Thursday, Jacobs held a writers' meeting at her apartment. Few people attended but those who did worked hard to generate material for the next issue. Sidney Sampson, who plans to be able to the leave the shelter in three months, spent most of the evening at the computer. He described himself as the newspaper's "creative writer. I write about a little bit of everything." In Philadelphia, Shelter News and Views has taken a central role in the lives of many of its writers. In Boston, Chicago, and New York, the various publications have helped homeless people both express their views and earn some money by selling the paper. Over the past two years these papers have gained enormous popularity. Shears explained this phenomenon as the "simple fact that nothing is being done about homelessness." Toler echoed this view, emphasizing the fact that the number of urban homeless has grown and become more vocal. "Just walking down the street you see a lot more people on the street," said Toler. "[They] are getting more aggressive," she added. Shears prophesied that people are "going to see more of . . . a concentrated homeless movement coming within the next few years."