Newspapers produced and sold by homeless people in dozens of American cities are flourishing even as the deepening recession endangers conventional newspapers.
At many of them, circulation is growing, along with the sales forces dispatched to sell the papers to passers-by.
The recession has hardly been a windfall for these street papers, most of which are nonprofits that survive on grants and donations as well as circulation revenue.
But the economic downturn has heightened interest in their offbeat coverage and driven new vendors to their doors.
“It’s a low barrier. You walk in, get a job, and turn around that afternoon and start earning money, as opposed to being one of 150 people waiting in line for one waitressing job,” said Joanne Zuhl, managing editor of Street Roots in Portland, Ore.
The paper’s monthly sales have increased to 16,000 from 11,000 in a few months, while the number of people selling the paper has jumped to nearly 100 from 60.
In the last six months, the Portland paper, like others around the country, has started to see a new type of vendor – chefs, park rangers and construction workers who have lost stable jobs or crucial part-time work as the economy crumbled.
Often, the papers’ managers said, new vendors have high school diplomas or even college degrees.
Now, in a year when several traditional newspapers have closed, they sell street papers to make ends meet while they look for employment.
Photo by NYTimes.