Vendor James Davis joins Street Sense board of directors

The Street Sense board of directors voted yesterday to add vendor James Davis as its tenth member. James becomes one of two vendors on the board. Francine Triplett is the other.

James, who has served on the board before, said he's excited about being back. He said, grinning, "Let's get this paper moving!" See Tuesday's blog post for Leslie Couch's video on James' life or just click here.

The board of directors will hold a strategic planning retreat in October. Ideas and suggestions for Street Sense's long-term growth are welcome. Please e-mail us at editor@streetsense.org or info@streetsense.org.

Other Street Sense board members are:

Robert Egger, president
Ted Henson, co-founder of Street Sense
Barbara Kagan
David Pike
John Snellgrove
Michael Stoops
David Walker
Kathy Whelpley

-- Koki Smith

James and the Travel Channel

Watch this video on vendor James Davis created by Leslie Couch, a graduate of the Travel Channel Academy. It could be selected to air on the Travel Channel! We'll keep you posted.

A night of street poetry in the park

We at Street Sense were privileged to be part of an event on urban poverty sponsored by the National Community Church at the Senate Park near Union Station last night. Poets Don Gardner, James Davis and David Harris of Street Sense read their work as part of the poetry program for Urban Poverty Night during the church's Week of Social Justice. All of the selections read can be found in our publication "Street Verses: Poems by the Homeless Writers and Vendors of Street Sense."

I was given the distinct privilege and honor to read the poem, “What I Want For Christmas,” by David Harris. We were treated to a stirring performance by Don Gardner of his poem, “The Streets” which aroused the emotions of the audience. Poet James Davis gave a memorable rendition of his creation titled “Skyward” and the magnificent David Harris chose his poem “Kindness” to recite. His poems must be experienced by the individual reader in order to feel the full force of his creations. The man is talented beyond words.

The event was intended to make people think about what they could do to give service to the disadvantaged and poverty-stricken persons in our community, and how we could create awareness of those conditions among the general public.

Look for other events sponsored by the National Community Church. I do believe that they are beneficial to this and many other communities.

-- Jesse Smith

Last minute poetry reading today!

Thursday, August 9, 7 p.m., Senate Park, near Union Station.

Street Sense is participating in the Week of Social Justice sponsored by National Community Church and other local churches. For Urban Poverty night on August 9, we will have vendors -- including the elusive David Harris -- read poetry from our book Street Verses at Senate Park, located at North Capitol Street between D Street and Constitution Avenue, just a block south of Union Station.

So if you live near by and/or are looking for something to do on Thursday night, please stop by to hear some great poetry and also learn more about urban poverty in D.C.

Street Papers of the World, Unite!

Executive Director Laura Thompson Osuri and Editor Koki Smith lugged dozens of copies of Street Sense to Portland, Ore., the last weekend in July for a conference of street papers across North America.

Sponsored by Street Roots, Portland’s street paper, and the Society of Professional Journalists, the conference helped more than 40 writers, editors and volunteers from 19 papers across the U.S. and Canada share ideas and best practices for improving fundraising, editorial content and organizational planning.

The papers spanned a wide spectrum: from Real Change, the Seattle-based weekly paper which sells nearly 50,000 copies every month, to Street Corner, a 1,000-circulation monthly paper based in Vancouver, British Columbia, to the Denver Voice, a new paper to launch in Colorado in August.

All share the goal of promoting public awareness of poverty and homelessness while providing opportunities for homeless vendors to earn an income. But most employ widely differing formats, printing quality and editorial philosophies, as Koki learned much to her fascination.
Our very own Laura, who serves as the association’s president, was re-elected to the board for another two years at the conference.

The 28 papers of the North American Street Newspaper Association reach nearly 300,000 people each month. The association recently partnered with the International Network of Street Papers, based in Glasgow, Scotland, to share resources and content. The resulting Street News Service, a compilation of stories from street papers across the world, reaches nearly 32 million people each month. Street Sense is a frequent contributor to the service.

The next North American street paper conference is scheduled for 2009 so that members can attend the international conference, to be held in either Australia or Scotland, next year.

--Koki Smith

Goodbye, Daniel, the Superstar Intern

Daniel Johnson, an intern with Street Sense since mid-May, will leave us today. Everyone at Street Sense is sad to see him go. Daniel has been a vital asset to Street Sense and is one of the main reasons I was able to keep my sanity during the transition between our old editor suddenly leaving and the new editor Koki Smith joining a month later.

Since that transition time, he has continued to shine, writing a half-dozen quality stories, attending several last-minute press conferences and helping lay out half the issue for the past five issues. And during his last week, he plans to create several new videos for a Street Sense YouTube site he created.

Daniel will be sorely missed here at Street Sense, but with two new interns starting in the fall, hopefully we can fill at least part of his shoes. We wish him all the best when he goes back to Abilene Christian University and want him to know he will not be forgotten.

-- LAURA

Intern Insight: More Than a Summer Job

For two months, my workdays began with the stoic Street Sense vendor Charles Nelson as I rose from the D.C. Metro Center Station escalator.

With half-opened eyes and a folded Street Sense newspaper in his right hand, Charles stood silently at the 13th Street exit while daily hordes of downtown workers walked past him.

He doesn’t say much and is easy to miss, but every morning Charles is there with a handful of papers, a Street Sense badge and a tired face.

Had it not been for my internship at Street Sense this summer, I probably would not have noticed Charles. I would have walked by with the crowd, never knowing what Street Sense was or who was behind the small newspaper. And I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to witness the power this small newspaper has to turn a broken man or woman on the streets into someone with hope.

While other students in my internship program, Georgetown University’s Institute on Political Journalism, may be able to brag about covering Capitol Hill, interviewing politicians and landing front page bylines, I can tell my friends back home about the homeless men and women like Charles I met and will never forget.

At Street Sense, I interviewed panhandlers, hounded the mayor’s office with questions about the 10-year plan to end homelessness and covered presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama’s (D-Ill.) speech on how he planned to battle urban poverty.

But the biggest achievement I have made this summer is learning that homelessness is a real problem in this country. Thanks to the readers, writers and producers of Street Sense, it is a problem that is no longer overlooked by the media.

Every stereotype I ever had about homeless people, homelessness and poverty was thrown out the window after my work at Street Sense. And although the past two months sped by, a part of me feels like I’ll always belong at Street Sense.

I cannot thank Executive Director Laura Thompson Osuri and Editor Koki Smith enough for having faith in me and giving me the opportunity to use my skills to help Street Sense.

I will miss our small office. When I come back to visit, I hope I’ll be greeted by an old friend at the top of the Metro Center exit, selling the latest edition of Street Sense.

Thanks for the great summer, Street Sense.

-- Daniel Johnson