Jacques Fleury Spare Change News “Knowledge emerges only through invention and re-invention, through the restless, impatient, continuing, hopeful inquiry human beings pursue in the world, with the world, and with each other.” Paulo Freire In my previous articles, I explored the teaching techniques and ideologies in Paulo Freire’s book: “Pedagogy of the Oppressed,” a text…
Letter: An encounter with decency on the street
I just finished reading Marc Goldfinger’s recent column on his history with Spare Change News. I’ve never read SC, actually. Not until today. I randomly bought a copy today through a random series of events. Actually I bought ten copies. Your vendor, Michael, over on Church Street, made a good sale. Half the time, I…
Editorial: Empty gestures on homelessness
It’s easy to fault Rhode Island’s recently passed Homeless Bill of Rights as a gimmicky gesture. The bill, among other things, guarantees a person the right to use public sidewalks, parks and transportation as well as public buildings “without discrimination on the basis of his or her housing status.” It also guarantees a “reasonable expectation…
Workin' For a Living: A Tale of Four Spare Change News Vendors
By Noelle Swan SPARE CHANGE NEWS Like so many others, Atiqa Mallah came to America looking for opportunity. Life in Morocco was hard, she says. Both her parents died when she was young, leaving Mallah and her siblings to care for each other. When she had a child of her own, she wanted to create…
Looking Back
By James Shearer SPARE CHANGE NEWS It’s hard to believe that it’s been 20 years, two decades, since Spare Change News was created. Yes, much has happened since then. We’ve had our ups and downs, the paper has more than once been declared dead, but as one of the founders once said, “Spare Change is…
Census Data: Cambridge Reports an Increase in Homeless Population
Robert Sondak SPARE CHANGE NEWS The last week in January 2012 hundreds of communities nationwide conducted their annual homeless census, required by the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). This national census includes two separate counts involving a tally of unsheltered individuals and a tally of families and individuals staying in shelters…
Harvard Square Business Association Trains Homeless Ambassadors
By Adam Sennott SPARE CHANGE NEWS For a few minutes, Denise Jillson was homeless, pregnant and HIV positive. However, when time was up, Jillson went back to being the executive director of the Harvard Square Business Association. On June 2, members of the Harvard Square Business Association gathered with homeless advocates at the Harvard-Epworth United…
The Early Years of Spare Change News: Insights From Its Founding Organizer
By Paula Mathieu SPARE CHANGE NEWS Its 20th anniversary seems an apt time for Spare Change News and its readers to look back and reflect on the paper’s early history. “I wouldn’t have predicted this paper would last 20 years,” admits Tim Harris, who in 1992 was the idealistic journalist and homeless organizer responsible for…
Editorial: Helping People Help Themselves for 20 Years
A handful of not-so-likely-to-succeed homeless people started a newspaper 20 years ago. They were staying at a homeless shelter in Harvard Square, and they had a dream. A big dream. It was a little crazy. They dreamed about rising above their plight, their misery, their station in life. Staying in homeless shelters, frankly, was a…
20th Anniversary Gala for Spare Change News – June 21, 2012
It’s hard to believe, but Spare Change News is all grown up. For the past 20 years, Spare Change News has been empowering persons experiencing homelessness and other forms of social and economic adversity to improve their lives through self-employment. Through the voices of its vendors and the content of its pages, Spare Change has…