Bon Jovi’s fight against homelessness covered across US and Europe

Chicago's StreetWise

A story about Bon Jovi's charity work covered by Philadelphia’s street paper One Step Away travelled across America and even ended up in Europe. Seven street papers republished the news that the rocker added some star power to the fight against homelessness during the groundbreaking ceremony for JBJ Soul Homes, a joint effort between Philadelphia homelessness providers Project H.O.M.E and People for People, Inc.

His words “Each of us has the power to effect change. You needn’t be a rock star” inspired readers from California to Denmark.

Street papers who ran the story include The Contributor (Nashville, Tennessee), StreetWise (Chicago, Illinois), Streetroots (Portland, Oregon), Street Zine (Dallas, Texas), Homeward Street Journal (Sacramento, California) and Salt Lake Street News (Salt Lake City, Utah) in the US and Hus Forbi in Denmark.

Story über Bon Jovis‘ Kampf gegen Obdachlosigkeit erfasst USA und Europa

Eine Story über Bon Jovis‘ Wohltätigkeitsarbeit in der in Philadelphia ansässigen Straßenzeitung One Step Away machte sich auf eine Reise quer durch die USA und bis rüber nach Europa. Sieben Straßenzeitungen veröffentlichten die Geschichte wie die Rocker etwas Glamour im Kampf gegen Obdachlosigkeit auf der Einweihungszeremonie des JBJ Soul Homes verbreiteten. JBJ Soul Home ist eine Zusammenarbeit von Philadelphias Obdachlosen Projekt Project H.O.M.E. und People for People, Inc.

Bon Jovis Worte: „jeder von uns hat es in der Hand um etwas zu ändern, dazu braucht man kein Rockstar zu sein“ inspirierte Leser von Kalifornien bis Dänemark.

Die Geschichte wurde gedruckt bei The Contributer (Nashville, Tennessee), Street Wise (Chicago, Illinois), Streetroot (Portland, Oregon), Street Zine (Dallas, Texas), Homeward Street Journal (Sacramento, California), Salt Lake Street News (Salt Lake City, Utah) und Hus Forbi in Dänemark.

 Homeward Street Journal, California

Hus Forbi, Denmark

Toledo Streets, Ohio

Letter from INSP Director to members

Dear members,

2013 has got off to a great start with our hugely successful, first-ever International Street Paper Vendor Week. I wanted to thank you all for taking part and for working together to celebrate street paper vendors everywhere. The feedback from vendors, readers, supporters and the media has been incredibly positive and we hope to build on this in future years.

We loved hearing about your vendor activities and events in your local communities, and we were celebrating alongside you here in Glasgow with various events in partnership with The Big Issue. A full impact report of the event will be circulated soon, but for now, I wanted to pass on my congratulations for all the brilliant work going on at your projects which ultimately is about supporting vendors everywhere.

We have an exciting few months coming up as we prepare for the INSP Conference and Awards in Munich. We continue to work alongside several member papers on digital innovation and we will share this information and learning with you as soon as we can. We have also been working with corporate partners to analyse your INSP survey data, the results of which we hope will help to further strengthen and build our network of street papers. We look forward to seeing many of you in July, and to share experiences, best practice and ideas for the future of street papers.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank our great board and small team of committed people who do a fantastic job every day for our network.

As always, stay in touch, continue to your share your ideas and feedback and we look forward to seeing many of you soon.

You are all INSP-iring people.

Best wishes,

Lisa Maclean
INSP Executive Director

StreetWise readers can now purchase with their smartphone

Readers of Chicago's StreetWise magazine can now pay their vendor with their smartphone via PayPal.

Recently, StreetWise vendors have been losing valuable business to the phrase, “Sorry… I don’t have any cash on me.”

In order to address this problem and tap into the trends of the digital age, StreetWise have been working with advertising agency Bartle Bogle Heggarty (BBH) and PayPal on a model that could be scaled up in Chicago and beyond.

Both BBH and PayPal Labs donated time and resources to make the project possible and to create a custom offering that ensures mobile payments are seamless, secure and free to the vendors to use.

“Homelessness is an issue that’s important to BBH" said Saneel Radia head of innovation for BBH NY & BBH Labs. "We like to think of ourselves as a creative and innovative organisation. So the idea that we can apply those skills to help address an issue we care about was an opportunity we jumped on. Given that StreetWise is a leading street paper, we hope to see how mobile payments work in Chicago before they’re potentially rolled out to papers around the rest of the country.”

Customer reviews have been excellent so far and while the mobile payment initiative is still very young, StreetWise hopes to engage the modern day consumer with this exciting new program in order to keep StreetWise on the map of modern technology. Read more.

Photo essays make powerful mark

The Big Issue South Africa

Picture stories continue to be a hit with street papers. Thanks to our content partnership with Reuters, street papers worldwide can reprint stunning photo essays free of charge. A photo series about ‘strange pets’ was amongst the latest republished series, as well as a series about home evacuations ahead of the Brazil Olympics and a series on ‘festivals of beliefs’ were republished globally.

Last year, a photo series highlighting the plight of child labourers also made a big impact on street paper readers worldwide. View republications here.

All photo series can still be accessed for republication by INSP street papers here.

The Big Issue South Africa

Foto-Essays hinterlassen einen gewaltigen Eindruck

Foto-Essays bleiben ein Hit in unseren Straßenzeitungen. Dank unserer starken Partnerschaft mit Reuters können Straßenmagazine auf der ganzen Welt kostenlos faszinierende Bilderstrecken drucken. Zu den letzten Fotoserien, die viele Magazine aufgenommen haben, gehörten ein Artikel über „ungewöhnliche Haustiere“ und eine Serie über Zwangsräumungen vor den Olympischen Spielen in Brasilien, sowie eine Bilderstrecke über „Glaubensfeste“. Sie alle wurden von Zeitungen in allen möglichen Ländern gebracht.

Alle Fotostrecken können Sie immer noch hier herunterladen.

The Big Issue in the North (UK)

The Big Issue in the North

The Big Issue in the North

The Big Issue South Africa

The Big Issue South Africa

Lifeline for homeless in Greece: street paper launches in Athens

Shedia's first edition will be launched
in Athens on 27 February 2013.

The newest street paper in the INSP network will launch in Greece next week. The paper, called Shedia (‘Raft’) will be sold in Athens by homeless and unemployed people living in poverty.

Shedia will be the 122nd street paper to join the International Network of Street Papers (INSP), with Greece bringing the country total up to 41.

Citizens of the recession-struck Greek capital have already embraced what they call their own ‘Greek Big Issue’. The street paper concept is known to many in Greece because of its sister publication The Big Issue in Australia, home to a large Greek community.

Ahead of the launch on Wednesday 27th February Shedia has already recruited over 70 vendors, including men and women of all ages, and expects to sign up many more once it hits the streets.

Shedia aims to be a ‘journalistic magazine with clear social characteristics and independent writing’. Vendors buy the magazine for € 1.50 and sell it to the public for € 3, keeping the proceeds. The magazine will come out on the last Wednesday of every month.

When new vendors sign up, they receive an official vest and name badge, as well as ten free copies. With the profits made from their first sales vendors can invest in more stock, effectively starting their own micro-business.

Apart from providing vendors with an opportunity to earn a dignified living, Shedia also plans to offer its vendors other support services, including access to medical and legal help.

Ethos
Chris Alefantis, founder of Shedia said: “It has been a long and difficult journey for all of us in Greece. It still is. Following years of preparations, the country's only street paper is about to be launched. Fighting poverty and social exclusion is at the forefront of our campaign, particularly considering the desperate economic hardship that Greece and its people are currently faced with.”

“INSP’s support has been invaluable to us. Being able to draw from the network's knowledge and experience has truly helped in us preparing as well as possible for the challenges we have faced so far and for the challenges that lie ahead. We have made dear new friends who share our ethos worldwide. We received support from colleague street papers from Britain to Serbia and from Canada to Japan and many more. Together we can make a difference. INSP and its members prove just that.”

Lisa Maclean, INSP Executive Director said: “One of INSP’s important functions is to help support the development of new street papers. The launch of Shedia is a significant development in our international

street paper network as it will offer crucial employment and support to some of Greece’s most vulnerable people- many of whom have fallen on hard times through no fault of their own.”

“We look forward to working closely with Shedia in the coming months and providing support to them and their vendors where we can.”

Monthly news pack fills international pages

Canadian street paper L’Itineraire in Montreal is one of the street papers using our monthly news pack ‘INSPiring the World’.

On every first Monday of the month we present editors with a selection of short stories from the news service website. The package can be used to fill the international pages in your street paper.

The pack consists of 8 short stories + pictures and can be used whole or in part. The February edition is still available for download here.

 

Unser monatliches News-Paket füllt weltweit die Seiten

„L’Itineraire“ aus Montreal (Kanada) ist eine von vielen Straßenmagazinen, die unser monatliches News-Paket „INSPiriere die Welt“ nutzen. 
Jeden ersten Montag im Monat präsentieren wir den Redakteuren eine Auswahl kurzer Artikel von unserer News-Service Website. Mit diesem Paket können unsere Mitglieder die internationalen Seiten in ihren Straßenmagazinen füllen. 
Das Paket besteht aus acht kurzen Artikeln und Bildern. Sie können das Gesamtpaket nutzen oder auch einzelne Teile davon. Die Februarausgabe steht hier immer noch zum Download zur Verfügung.

 

Vendor Week Storify (UPDATE 6)

INSP's international programme of events and activities celebrating street paper vendors, championing their entrepreneurial spirit and challenging perceptions of poverty and homelessness. Here is a round-up of tweets, blog posts and other coverage.

INSPiring Vendor Week in Macedonia

By Lice v lice staff writer

Skopje’s streets were the places where this past week the work of the street paper magazine vendors and their entrepreneur spirit was celebrated. The celebration was part of International Street Paper Vendor Week. The only Macedonian street paper magazine Lice v lice (Face to face) gave its contribution to the celebration of the Vendor Week, along with more than 600 cities in the world and 120 magazines and newspapers.

Ergjan, the two Armandos, Alen, Nedzad, Orhan, Anton and Radzo are Lice v lice’s vendors that inspired the citizens of Skopje and Macedonia, telling their stories, their will and determination to rise above the poverty and the troubles in their lives. With selling Lice v lice they get their incomes and earn money, but they also participate in the active citizenship and inclusion in the society.

"There were people that gave me some coins, without buying the magazine. I refused this money and I was telling them that I work, I don’t beg for money. If they wanted to support me, they would buy the magazine", said Armando Rexepi, one of the Lice v lice vendors.

The celebration of the International vendor week in Skopje begun with the promotion of the third edition of the magazine Lice v lice. Dozens of citizens got involved in the mission of the magazine. There were a lot of celebrities among them – artists, musicians, fashion designers from Macedonia: Sergej Andreevski, Nikola Sekirarski, Verica Andreevska – Spasovic from the bend “Starowski”, Tanja Kokev, Karolina Goceva, Marjan Jovanovski from the band “Sintezis”.

The citizens also engaged with the action “Face to face with the Other – 15 Minutes in the vendors uniforms”, and they had the opportunity to face the experiences that the vendors are experiencing every time they try to offer the magazine to the potential buyers.

"I had an unusual experience. Along with Radzo, we were selling “Lice v lice” together and I enjoyed in his company. I also realized the kind of challenges he is facing while he struggles to earn for living. I think that it was much harder for me to face with some of the uncomfortable reactions of the people, Radzo seems to be used to that so he continued without any problem. I learned a great lection", said Aleksandra Iloska, that is one of the most committed supporters of “Lice v lice” and that participated in this action.

Together with the Agency for communications “Ksantika”, “Lice v lice” this week organized intensive trainings for improvement of the communication skills of the vendors. The trainings are conducted with the known Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) methods.

"I’m working with Lice v lice’s vendors and I can see that they have improved their skills significantly. It is very important for them to know how to work on their positive sides, to define goals in their lives and to define the steps towards those goals", said Marina Ancevska, a trainee from “Ksantika”.

Other citizens involved in the celebration of the Vendor week also, as well as companies, organizations and embassies, such as MEPSO, Pakomak, ADING, Biro project, Pharmachem, Adora engeneering, Konekt and the Embassy of the Netherlands in Macedonia. The vendors visited those companies and they were selling the magazine there, but they also tell their stories and learn something about the companies.

"We hope that this cooperation and involvement in the mission of “Lice v lice” will continue. This week we assured that there is a critical mass of citizens that are aware that they can contribute in this joint building of a better society. We expect adventurous actions – said the organizers from “Lice v lice”.

Lice v lice (Face to face) is a street paper from Skopje, Republic of Macedonia that is part of the Regional platform of activism LICEULICE. So far, they published three editions, with themes such as activism through culture and arts, environment, active citizenship, social responsibility and similar. The paper aims to promote the model of social entrepreneurship in Macedonia. The vendors are youth from street and homeless people that get half of the price of the magazine to their own.

Author Irvine Welsh proves hit with street papers

An exclusive INSP interview with Scottish author Irvine Welsh got republished across Europe as well as in the US and South Africa.

In street paper Surprise, Switzerland

Welsh spoke exclusively to INSP in December, describing the street paper concept as “one of the great social achievements of the last 20 years”.

Journalist Billy Briggs conducted the interview in Edinburgh during Welsh’ visit to his native Edinburgh . Trond Ola from Norwegian street paper Sorgenfri accompanied Briggs to write up the story for Norwegian readers, and also photographed Welsh for the story.

Street paper StreetWise in Chicago revisited Welsh upon return to the US, to ask him some specific questions related to his adopted home town.

Other street papers picked it up, too. In Portland, Street Roots ran the story over a full page.

In Street Roots, Portland (USA)

Surprise in Switzerland, BISS in Germany, The Big Issue South Africa and Hus Forbi in Denmark also published the interview.


Autor Irvine Welsh ist ein Hit in den Straßenmagazinen 

The Big Issue South Africa

Ein INSP Exklusiv-Interview mit dem schottischen Autor Irvine Welsh wurde in mehreren europäischen Ländern und in den USA und Südafrika gedruckt.

Welsh hatte im Dezember exklusiv mit INSP gesprochen. Dabei nannte er das Konzept der Straßenzeitungen „eine der großen sozialen Errungenschaften der letzten 20 Jahre“.

Der Journalist Billy Briggs hatte das Interview in Edinburgh während eines Besuchs von Welsh in seiner schottischen Heimatstadt geführt. Mit dabei war auch Trond Ola von der norwegischen Straßenzeitung „Sorgenfri“, der die Story gleich für die norwegischen Leser aufschrieb und Welsh fotografierte.

Das Straßenmagazin „StreetWise“ aus Chicago besuchte Welsh nach seiner Rückkehr in die USA, um ihm ein paar spezifische Fragen zu seiner Wahl-Heimatstadt zu stellen.

Auch andere Straßenzeitungen nahmen die Geschichte auf. „Street Roots“ aus Portland widmete dem Artikel eine ganze Seite.

„Surprise“ aus der Schweiz, „BISS“ aus Deutschland The Big Issue South Africa und „Hus Forbi“ aus Dänemark brachten das Interview ebenfalls.

Lice v lice, Macedonia

My neighbour without a roof - An initiative by Liceulice (Serbia)

Most people never talk to those who live without a roof over their head. Lack of interaction between different groups in our society, combined with impersonal or incorrect description of homeless that exist in ingrained stereotypes, contributes to sustaining of unbridgeable gap between those who have their home and those who have not. Consequence is that people look on homelessness as to abstract social problem. We look on those who do not have their home as less happy or very guilty for “their situation” and then it’s much easier to ignore their problems.

The Initiative “My neighbor without a roof” (www.facebook.com/mojkomsijabezkrova; www.twiter.com/KomsijaBezKrova) wanted to change these stereotypes and deconstruct prejudices that are deeply ingrained into our society. The basic idea was to initiate and motivate (passive) online community (Facebok, Twitter, Flickr), by giving the example of numerous online/offline activities, on providing direct help to homeless, so that they can do that by themselves next time, not just to wait for others to do something. The initiators (street paper Liceulice, Red Cross Palilula and agency D Kit) begun in December last year with gathering people of good will who do not turn their head on the other side when they see our neighbors without a roof and organized several gatherings with homeless on different city spots. They invited wide public via FB, TW, other media, to come, bring their friends and bring some warm clothes, food and toiletries.

During the International Vendor Week, initiative “My neighbor without a roof”, despite the bad weather, had its 4th successful action in one of many city parks in the center of Belgrade. But it wasn’t the usual action. This one was much special because Liceulice vendors joined the action, because they wanted to help homeless who live in worse conditions than they do. This meeting was important, not just because homeless got necessary things for surviving the winter - worm clothes, shoes and canned food, but also as possibility to get to know each other, hear other’s stories and exchange good will.

I am proud to know these people and to live in the city that finally starts to take care of those who need it the most. We all needed certain amount of courage for this action and we all proved that we have it! Hvala svim organizatorima i onima koji su juče, uprkos lošem vremenu, bili na trgu Slavija – i beskućnicima i aktivistima. Svima je bila potrebna izvesna doza hrabrosti za ovaj susret, i svi su dokazali su da je imaju. Well done! See you soon on a new action!

Nikoleta Kosovac

Vendor Week videos from Strathclyde's student reporter team

Students from Strathclyde University's digital journalism course have been running around Glasgow this week to cover INSP's events during the first-ever International Street Paper Vendor Week. Check out their videos here:

Big thanks to the volunteer student reporter team: Tony Connelly, Gregor Cubie, Christine Glen, Corey Milne, Euan Ramsay, Jacquelyn Farr, Eric Karoulla, Mark Muir, Marius Rønnekleiv ‎and Colm Currie and to Sallyanne Duncan at Strathclyde University.

London vendors greet colleagues abroad!

Big Issue vendor party in Glasgow!

Vendors pick up their goodie bags, hats and snacks during a vendor party at The Big Issue's distribution office in Glasgow, as part of International Street Paper Vendor Week, 6 February 2013.

'One warm winter' campaign huge hit in Berlin

One of the campaign images by Oliver Rath.

By Katrin Schmoll

Winter is the toughest season for over 1000 homeless people in the German capital Berlin. The shelters are often overcrowded and there is a permanent lack of warm clothing for the homeless. Many of them get sick or even freeze to death on the street.

Aiming to collect money and warm clothes for its vendors and others affected by the cold winter weather, Berlin-based street paper Strassenfeger launched the charity campaign 'One warm winter' in partnership with advertising agency DOJO. Online deal website Groupon also got on board by adverting a special 'charity deal' on its website. Supported by German celebrities like actor and musician Wilson Gonzales Ochsenknecht and photographer Oliver Rath who took the campaign pictures, the campaign spread fast across social media.

Chip in for a coat

'Chipping in' for a warm coat for a Berlin vendor.

The fundraising principle behind the campaign is simple: login with your Facebook account and with just one click, you can donate one Euro and chip in for a warm jacket. As coats cost 30 euro each, your photo will be added to 1/30th of a coat appearing on screen. You can then share the picture of your 'image-quilted' coat via social media and encourage your friends to chip in, too.

Across the city, other fundraisers have been held as part of the campaign as well, including clothes collections and fundraising gigs. Posters all over town remind passers-by to donate.

Strassenfeger said that the initual success of the campaign was overwhelming, with 35,000 Euro collected in the first 10 days. Donations can still be made online.

Covering Vendor Week: readers worldwide introduced to global street paper family

Ad campaign in bodo
(Dortmund, Germany)

Streetvibes (Cincinnati, USA)

To celebrate International Street Paper Vendor Week, publications around the world have published a special ad campaign poster, a feature story and vendor profiles from colleagues afar.

As part of Vendor Week, street papers worldwide this week take part in a programme of events and activities celebrating street paper vendors, championing their entrepreneurial spirit and challenging perceptions of poverty and homelessness.

Ad campaign in Licevlice (Macedonia)

Ad campaign in L'Itineraire
(Quebec, Canada)

In Germany Soziale Welt, Asphalt, Draussenseiter, Strassenkreuzer, Die Jerusalemmer, and Hinz&Kunzt published the article titled 'Meet the world's most inspiring work force'. Bodo in Dortmund included the campaign poster in the coverage as well. INSP's newest street paper Licevlice in Macedonia published the ad poster across two pages of its magazine. Sister paper Liceulice in Serbia joined the campaign online.

In Africa,The Big Issue Malawi ran the story, and The Big Issue South Africa launched a campaign featuring two vendors' life stories every day during Vendor Week. The Big Issue Australia also promoted the week and their local events online.

Straatjournaal in the Netherlands decided its February cover to Vendor Week, placing a vendor image on the cover with the title: “Did you know that I am one of 28,000 street paper vendors?” Inside the magazine, it featured a selection of vendor profiles from around the world. Colleague street paper De Riepe in the north of Holland also ran it.

Cover of Straatjournaal,
(Haarlem, Netherlands)

Street Roots (Portland, USA)

Elsewhere in Europe, Ireland’s Big Issue, Kupfermuckn in Austria, Novy Prostor in Czech Republic followed suit. The Big Issue in the UK urged its readers last week to get involved with a special  #celebrateyourvendor cover, following the tragic deaths of two of its vendors.

Cover of L'Itineraire
(Quebec, Canada)

In the USA, One Step Away (Philadelphia), The Contributor (Nashville), Street Zine, Toledo Streets, StreetWise (Chicago), The Journey,Streetvibes in Cincinnati and New Orleans Street Exchange published the Vendor Week feature. Street Roots in Portland published a series of vendor’s life stories in its recent edition.

The Big Isssue (UK)

L’Itineraire in Montreal, Canada dedicated its cover to vendor week and created a ‘special report’ section in its latest edition, featuring vendors from around the world.

Many other street papers published the poster and feature on their websites and social media pages.

Readers worldwide are encouraged to get involved and join the global celebration of street paper vendors via Twitter: #INSPiringpeople

Vendor Week covered in Glasgow's Evening Times!

Thanks to our friends at the Evening Times in Glasgow for announcing International Street Paper Vendor Week in today's paper. You can read the full article 'City streets ahead to aid INSPiring people' on their website.