Spare Change News

Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

  • 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 End of an Era: James Shearer Stepping Down as Spare Change Board President

    By Liam Cunningham SPARE CHANGE NEWS A long chapter in the history of Spare Change News will come to a close late this year, when co-founder James Shearer will be stepping down as Board President. Shearer, who has been involved with the paper in a variety of roles since its inception in 1992, has decided…

  • How I Arrived At Spare Change News (Conclusion)

    By Marc D. Goldfinger SPARE CHANGE NEWS Click here to read Part I of How I Arrived At Spare Change News. The radio in my 1955 Buick was humming as my friend Jack and I sat in a parking lot in the South Mountain Reservation in South Orange, New Jersey, loaded on codeine-based cough syrup…

  • 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…

  • Jobs Commission Assembling its Final Report

    By Andy Metzger STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, JUNE 14, 2012……Three years after it was ordered by Gov. Deval Patrick, the state’s Jobs Commission is putting together its report on the strengths and weaknesses of the Massachusetts economy. Commission Chairman Sen. Karen Spilka (D-Ashland) told commission members on Thursday morning that Friday would…

  • Women's Commission Presses for Equal Pay/ Sick Day Bills

    By Colleen Quinn STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, JUNE 13, 2012….Women across the state face an frightening rate of poverty as they age because many work lower-paying or part-time jobs that leave them without pensions and retirement savings, according to the Massachusetts Commission on the Status of Women. Commission members gathered for their…

  • Public Housing Commision Eyes Consensus Recomendations

    By Colleen Quinn STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE BOSTON, JUNE 12, 2012….A commission created in the wake of the Chelsea Housing Authority scandal has completed its work, and come up with 37 specific recommendations, including one requiring all housing authorities to hire independent auditors to look over their financial statements. The Commission on Public Housing Sustainability…

  • Sides Staked Out for "Adult Conversation" About Transportation Funding

    By Andy Metzger STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, JUNE 11, 2012�� Even if the state chose not to fund the $1.3 billion Green Line Extension, several of the revenue-generating ideas tied to that project in newly released documents will need to be used to keep state transit authorities afloat, Transportation Secretary Richard Davey…

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