About

Founded in 1999, Street Roots is a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization in Portland, Oregon, that publishes a weekly investigative newspaper sold by people experiencing homelessness and poverty to earn an income.

Our Mission

Street Roots creates income opportunities for people experiencing homelessness and poverty by producing a newspaper and other media that are catalysts for individual and social change.

Our Values

Creativity: We celebrate resourcefulness and imagination.
Dignity: We lift each other up through the quality of our work and our engagement with each other.
Equity: We hold the work of anti-racism and anti-oppression as central to our aspirations of justice.
Grace: We regard each other not by our worst moment, but our best future.
Integrity: We hold truth and justice paramount in telling our stories.
Relation: We build solidarity by knowing each other across difference.

Each week, over 100 Street Roots vendors purchase copies of the newspaper for 25 cents each, then sell them on the streets of Portland for $1, keeping the profits. More than 400 vendors sell the newspaper during the course of a year.

The most comprehensive print list of services for people experiencing homelessness and poverty in Clackamas, Multnomah and Washington counties, 200,000 guides are published and distributed annually. Guides are available for pickup at the Street Roots office, free of charge, for individuals to use or help distribute in their communities.

Street Roots produces a weekly, award-winning newspaper by the same name, filled with quality local journalism focused on holding powerful people accountable and making an impact in the lives of everyday Oregonians in Portland and throughout the state. Street Roots specializes in in-depth reporting by professional journalists, particularly investigative, explanatory and solutions journalism. The newspaper also regularly publishes vendors’ poetry and other writings, and occasionally publishes opinion pieces by editorial staff or community members. The newspaper maintains editorial independence from the broader organization’s financial and advocacy interests, and adheres to the Society of Professional Journalists’ Code of Ethics.

Street Roots is a member of the Society of Professional Journalists, the Institute for Nonprofit News and the International Network of Street Papers.

Organizational Structure

Street Roots is a nonprofit organization working to make income accessible to impoverished Portlanders through low-barrier work. We advocate for better conditions for people experiencing homelessness, as well as systemic change that lessens poverty and increases access to housing.

All facets of our work — income, advocacy and journalism — are driven by our values, but each has its own practices, ethics and guidelines.

The Street Roots newspaper makes editorial decisions independent from the organization’s financial and advocacy interests. Street Roots maintains a policy on editorial independence.

Some Street Roots vendors become ambassadors who are paid to do additional work, including public health outreach, surveys, and trainings.