Come out to the Lizard Lounge and celebrate the release of “Heroin’s Harbour,” the forthcoming book by Spare Change News Columnist, Vendor, and Poetry Editor Marc Goldfinger on Sunday, Dec. 8. The night will kick off with a poetry slam at 8p.m., and Marc will take the stage to do a reading at about 9:30p.m.…
From the Street to the Finish Line
Photo by Margarita Dreyer. When a woman walked into homeless shelters in Philadelphia in 2007 and asked residents if they wanted to go for a run, she didn’t know that by 2019 her individual gesture would be a movement. Back on my Feet has grown from one woman to an organization with 13 chapters nationwide.…
Winter Arrives Early
As I sit here writing, I realize that the temperature today, this Tuesday in November is supposed to slam down into the teens with a chill factor below 10 degrees. I remember what it was like to be homeless in weather like this and my heart goes out to my brothers and sisters on the…
‘Furnishing Hope’ helps families transition out of shelters
Providing homeless people with a place to live is a huge step on the road to helping them rebuild their lives, but once they’ve moved in they need to fill their new place with the necessities that make it livable and comfortable. Boston based organization Furnishing Hope is working to meet those needs by providing…
Stealing the City From Under Our Feet
When I came to Boston 40 years ago the first place I stayed was at the old Harbor Lights shelter on Shawmut Ave in the South End. Back then the South End was one of the few neighborhoods in Boston where a young black man could feel safe. At the time Boston was still dealing…
Advocates, Legislators Rally for Rent Control to Protect tenants
Dozens gathered outside the Massachusetts State House on Tuesday, Oct. 29 at a rally in support of legislation that would reinstate rent control in Massachusetts. The state eliminated rent control after Massachusetts residents voted to do so in 1994 by a very slim margin, with 49 percent in favor of keeping it, and 51 percent…
Are you equipped to respond to an opioid overdose?
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, from 1999 to 2017 more than 702,000 people died from a drug overdose. In 2017, more than 70,000 people died from drug overdoses, making it a leading cause of injury-related deaths in the United States. Of those deaths, almost 68 percent involved opioids. Communities are taking…
‘Clean sweep’ becomes policy
The Walsh administration has announced an initiative aimed at clearing homeless people from the Melnea Cass/Massachusetts Avenue neighborhood, in a follow up to last summer’s action against Boston’s homeless, known as “Operation Clean Sweep,” with its Melnea Cass/Mass Ave. 2.0 plan. “While no neighborhood or group of people has escaped this crisis, the areas of…
Mass. political leaders hold roundtable on ‘medical deferred action’
Rep. Ayanna Pressley and Sen. Edward Markey hosted a roundtable discussion on immigration policies. Photo by Max Reyes Rep. Ayanna Pressley and Sen. Edward Markey on Monday questioned how the Trump administration was handling about 400 requests for medical deferred action that were reopened after the administration walked back an attempt to end the practice.…
Mass. protests round up of Cambodian residents
Tammie Christopulos of Lynn was in the shower last Saturday morning when her doorbell rang. She knew what it was: a deportation order for her husband, Saray Im, who was born in Cambodia but has lived in the United States for the last 35 years. “My husband is not a threat to anyone in the…