Spare Change
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 The September 14, 2006 - September 27, 2006 front page of Spare Change News |
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| Type | Biweekly newspaper |
|---|---|
| Format | Tabloid |
| Owner | Homeless Empowerment Project (HEP) |
| Founded | 1992 |
| Language | English |
| Headquarters | 1151 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138  United States |
| Circulation | 10,000 per issue |
| Official website | Spare Change News Net |
Spare Change News (SCN) is a street newspaper published in Cambridge, Massachusetts through the efforts of the Homeless Empowerment Project (HEP), a grassroots organization created to help end homelessness.
The paper was started by a small group of homeless people in Boston in 1992.[1]
Each vendor pays 25 cents for each copy of the paper, then sells it on the streets for US$1. As a result, the vendor makes a 75-cent 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.
Circulation is roughly 10,000 per issue. HEP/SCN rely on grants and donations to publish the newspaper, but the organization works to increase its advertising revenue to become self-sufficient.
In November 2007, Whats Up Magazine merged with Spare Change News.
In 2008, Spare Change News received a grant from The Harbus Foundation of Harvard University Business School, to use it "to support a long-term marketing strategy to increase the awareness of the organization amongst the general public and generate broader distribution and commensurate aid for its vendors."[2]
The newspaper offices are headquartered in the Old Cambridge Baptist Church.
[edit] References
- ^ About Spare Change News - HEP website, archived 2008.
- ^ Yip, Heidi, "Philanthropy In Our Hands: $60,000 Worth of Harbus Foundation Grants Awarded to NPOs", The Harbus, Harvard University Business School, April 28, 2008
[edit] Further reading
- Friedman, Anna M.; Bensson, Anne E., "Vendor Asks Square To ‘Spare Change'", The Harvard Crimson newspaper, March 23, 2005
[edit] External links
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