Spare Change News
The September 14, 2006 – September 27, 2006 cover page of Spare Change News
|
|
| Type | Biweekly newspaper |
|---|---|
| Format | Tabloid |
| Owner(s) | Homeless Empowerment Project (HEP) |
| Founder(s) | Tim Harris, James Shearer, Tim Hobson, and others |
| Editor | Adam Sennott (October 2015-) Sam Baltrusis (December 2014-October 2015) Joshua Eaton (June 2013-December 2014) Rev. Osagyefo Uhuru Sekou (August 2012-June 2013) Tom Benner (July 2011–August 2012) Adam Sennott (2010-2011) David J. Jefferson (2008-2010) Samuel J. Scott (2004-2007) |
| Founded | May 8, 1992 |
| Language | English |
| Headquarters |
1151 Massachusetts Avenue  United States
|
| Circulation | 10,000 per issue |
| Website | sparechangenews |
1151 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138
Spare Change News (SCN) is a street newspaper founded in 1992 in Boston, Massachusetts for the Greater Boston Area and published out of the editorial offices in Cambridge, Massachusetts through the efforts of the Homeless Empowerment Project (HEP), a grassroots organization created to help end homelessness.
The Homeless Empowerment Project is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit corporation registered in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, with an annual budget in 2012 of $130,000 and six staff members, all part-time.
The newspaper offices are headquartered in the Old Cambridge Baptist Church.
The mission of Spare Change News is "to present, by our own example, that homeless and economically disadvantaged people, with the proper resources, empowerment, opportunity, and encouragement are capable of creating change for ourselves in society."
The mission of the Homeless Empowerment Project (HEP) is "to empower the economically disadvantaged in Greater Boston through self-employment, skill development, and self-expression. To create forums, including those of independent media in order to reshape public perception of poverty and homelessness."
Since the founding of Spare Change News, the price of the newspaper has varied. Originally it was sold for $1 and the vendor paid 25 cents for a copy making a profit of 75 cents on each paper sold. As of September 2016, a vendor pays 50 cents for each copy of the paper, then sells it on the streets for $2. As a result, the vendor makes a $1.50 profit for each newspaper sold.
There are approximately 100 active vendors in the greater Boston area at any one time.
The biweekly, 16-page paper contains a color front and back page, alternative news, arts features, interviews, fiction and poetry that are written by staff writers and journalists, as well as by people who are homeless or work with the homeless. A full page is devoted to listings of local centers for job/skills training, senior care, women's care, drug recovery programs and homeless shelters.
...
Wikipedia