University gives a lift to newspaper for Massachusetts homeless

By Ken Gewertz

Gazette Staff

Harvard Planning and Real Estate and the Office of Government, Community and Public Affairs have given $4,000 to Spare Change, a newspaper produced and sold by the homeless.

The four-year-old publication, which recently went from monthly to bimonthly, chronicles the experience of homelessness in New England. Its administrative and editorial staff as well as many of its writers are people who have experienced homelessness firsthand.

"The gift from Harvard is a real morale booster," said Spare Change editor-in-chief Linda Larson. "To be recognized and acknowledged by Harvard is a great thing."

Sold on the streets by licensed vendors, the paper has provided a means for many homeless individuals to earn a living without resorting to panhandling or crime. Legitimate vendors wear special badges that show their affiliation with Spare Change. They buy copies of the paper for 35 cents apiece and sell them for a dollar, keeping the 65 cents profit.

There are now between 65 and 100 vendors selling the paper in various locations around Massachusetts. Circulation is 18,000 to 20,000 copies per month, most of which is the result of street sales.

"Many of the vendors earn enough selling the paper to rent a room and get off the street," said Fred Ellis, who manages the Spare Change office in the Old Cambride Baptist Church on Massachusetts Avenue. "There are really only two employers in the city who will hire the homeless, the Boston Globe and us."

Spare Change began four years ago as the major undertaking of the Homeless Empowerment Project Inc. (HEP), which works to provide employment and other opportunities for homeless people in Greater Boston. Through one of its projects, the Homeless Speakers Bureau, it also provides education about homelessness for the larger community.

Plagued by administrative and financial problems through much of its existence, HEP convened a new board of trustees in October, 1995, which has taken a more active role in running the organization.

The board, which includes members of the homeless community as well as business people, educators, clergy, and others, meets monthly to discuss pragmatic concerns as well as more general approaches to the problems of poverty and homelessness.

"It's been a positive experience," said Christopher Queen, Dean of Students and director of community relations at the Extension School, who serves as vice president of the board. "I don't know where else people who are down on their luck and people who are employed in middle-class jobs can sit down together and feel that they are part of the same organization, pursuing a common goal."

Queen said that HEP is working with the city of Cambridge's Community Learning Center and Project Lift to provide adult literacy courses, vocational training, and help with substance abuse for members of the homeless community. Also in the works is an effort to expand Spare Change circulation and job opportunities for the homeless in Worcester, Lowell, Springfield, and other cities.

Along with these changes in administration and direction have come editorial changes as well. Spare Change has benefited from the talents of local writers, graphic designers, and photographers, and has risen steadily in terms of professionalism and audience appeal.

Recent issues have carried interviews with Cornel West, professor of Afro-American studies in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and professor of the philosophy of religion in the Divinity School; William Julius Wilson, the Malcolm Wiener Professor of Social Policy at the Kennedy School; Howard Zinn, professor of political science emeritus at Boston University; and Patricia Smith, poet and Boston Globe columnist.

These articles have appeared alongside accounts by homeless authors writing in both prose and poetry of their experiences on the streets.

"I feel that the public is interested in reading accounts by homeless people about their situation, but we also try to present a mix of viewpoints," Larson said.

"I think there are basically two ways to become an expert on homelessness," said Queen. "You can either study it or experience it. Spare Change tries to publish articles that reflect both of these approaches."