Dear reader,
When the editorial team set out to curate the Spring Anthology issues, we knew we had a tough task before us; to parse more than 800 pages with only 32 to fill.
Curating a selection of impactful and important stories from a 12-month period left us with far more deserving options than open pages. Fortunately, we can highlight more stories on social media throughout the week.
Readers will notice some things are different, but also familiar, with this issue of Street Roots. Notable changes include puzzles on Page 2 and some color throughout the issue. What will be familiar, however, is the uncompromising, community-focused journalism readers have come to rely on for more than two decades.
While the stories in this issue were published months ago (October 2021 through March 2022 to be exact) they remain relevant and important in our community.
On Page 4, Melanie Henshaw, the 2022 Zuhl Fellow, delves into the hard numbers about shelter availability for unhoused Portlanders. Henshaw found the city of Portland and Multnomah County don’t have enough shelter space for even half of Portlanders sleeping on the streets. Henshaw’s story revealed the stark contrast between narratives of ‘resource resistant homeless populations’ and reality. Her story was one of the first pieces released under The Orange Fence Project — Street Roots’ new section focusing on homelessness policy, enforcement and impact in Portland.
On Page 7, investigative reporter Piper McDaniel explores the potential for an “aged homelessness crisis,” by examining census data and speaking with experts. In one of the first installments in the Renters’ Rights Project, an effort spearheaded by McDaniel, she revealed nearly 40% of Oregonians older than 65 reported they were at risk of losing their homes as housing costs far outpaced SSI. McDaniel also explored potential solutions working through the state and federal legislature.
On Page 8, freelancer Libby Dowsett reports on an innovative program in Iowa that increased family placements for foster children. Dowsett’s work publicized a little-known program producing encouraging results for foster youth who are often removed from their parents and subjected to numerous temporary foster placements with little stability. After Dowsett’s story was published, other states began contacting Iowa officials to inquire about reproducing the program in their state, a phenomena credited to Dowsett and her work by Iowa Chief Justice Susan Christensen during the 2021 State of the Judiciary. Dowsett’s piece was part three of a five-part series on foster placement stability in collaboration with the Solutions Journalism Network.
On Page 12, incarcerated columnist Enrique Bautista describes the difficulty of Christmas behind bars. Bautista walks readers through the ways Christmas, and what it means to him, have changed through the years. He paints an unsparing picture of isolation, family, loss and the hope to experience Christmas at his family’s side once again.
On Page 13, Street Roots vendor and MoJo participant Bronwyn Jones Carver reports on the city-wide expansion of Portland Street Response. Carver is part of the MoJo program, meaning mobile journalism, which offers vendors the opportunity to learn about journalism, communications and storytelling from professional journalists and instructors.
While Street Roots continues to work with freelancers, the model most familiar to our readers, we have focused on growing our full-time staff since September 2021. Additionally, we have focused on expanding our investigative reporting with an eye toward accountability. We also launched two long-term reporting projects focused on housing and homelessness. Some of the stories from our recent efforts will be featured in this issue of the Spring Anthology.
Stories published by Street Roots require hours of legwork, research and interviews, at the least. Many stories require paying exorbitant fees for public records. To put it concisely, good journalism costs time and money.
Street Roots avoids digital paywalls that can exclude low-income readers. Instead, we are asking for your support, so we can continue producing quality journalism.
Sincerely,
K. Rambo
Editor in chief