In memory of longtime Street Roots elder Art Garcia, a column from the vaults Kaia Sand is the executive director of Street Roots. This column represents her views. The work we do at Street Roots is built on the work of people who have come before us. A b ...
12 Jan 2022 - Art Garcia and Kaia Sand
OPINION | The Ambassador Program emerged from the pandemic, and now, new doors are opening Doug Marks smiled broadly standing outside the former Econo Lodge in Washington County where more than 40 people now reside in the Greater Good Northwest Shelter. H ...
14 Jul 2021 - Kaia Sand
OPINION | Street Roots’ Ambassador Program means more income opportunities for people experiencing poverty, and it relies on your support Ten Street Roots ambassadors grabbed their vaccine education packets and headed out the door. Tony, Melissa and Lee p ...
7 Apr 2021 - Kaia Sand
OPINION | The Biden administration’s child tax credit creates a floor on families’ poverty. Can we keep going? On cold concrete we lie on freezing rain and snow We hide behind our blankets, dirty tarps and tent The small and cruel can see we are weak and ...
31 Mar 2021 - Kaia Sand
OPINION | Thank you for getting income to our vendors when the storm prevented them from selling papers This past weekend, we put out a call to build an emergency income fund for the more than 200 active vendors who missed sales during the snowstorm. We a ...
17 Feb 2021 - Kaia Sand
OPINION | Nurturing is Max's superpower; he's focused on keeping his wife warm outside The reason I made this design is my wife lost a half a foot and a third of a leg two years ago to frostbite,” Max told me, holding up a pale purple leg warmer ...
18 Nov 2020 - Kaia Sand
OPINION | The Street Roots Action Team's voter registration drive builds on efforts to broaden civic engagement They just keep at it. The day the Proud Boys attempted to disrupt the city, the Street Roots Action Team was undeterred and focused, out o ...
7 Oct 2020 - Kaia Sand
OPINION | While some Street Roots vendors return to selling the paper, others need to shelter in place. There are ways to support them, too. That afternoon in early March when Raven Drake walked me to her tent next to I-5 North created the roadmap for how ...
14 Aug 2020 - Kaia Sand
Starting Aug. 12, readers will have a cashless option for purchasing the newspaper from vendors, who will all be trained in new health and safety protocols Hundreds of Street Roots vendors have weighed in. Nearly 700 of you, our readers, took our survey. ...
31 Jul 2020 - Kaia Sand
OPINION | Reflecting on the poetry of Daniel Cox and its reverberations through these difficult times Daniel Cox handed me a thick packet of paper from a notebook, folded in half. Poems. “I miss people,” he said softly. Kaia Sand is the executive direc ...
24 Jul 2020 - Kaia Sand