Celebrating its one-year anniversary this November, the Street Pulse seeks to endow the homeless of Madison with a voice, according to UW-Madison senior Claire Muller, the publication's Editor-in-Chief.
The monthly content of Madison's homeless newspaper varies. Each month is dedicated to a specific issue or theme, such as November's ""Veterans and Homelessness"". Fittingly, writers for the Street Pulse also vary, running the gamut from college students and community members to the homeless themselves.
In addition to contributing content, homeless individuals also act as the paper's primary distributors.
""Vendors—who are typically low-income or homeless—buy each paper for 25 cents, sell for a dollar and keep the profit,"" Muller said.
Distributor profit is another part of the paper's mission. According to UW-Madison senior Becky Ford, a Street Pulse features editor, the goal of the paper is not only to give a voice to homelessness, but also to act as a source of income for its vendors.
""A lot of time—for whatever reason—our vendors are not employable or not necessarily good candidates for traditional employment,"" she said. ""So, this provides them a good way of [making money] that is, perhaps, less demeaning than panhandling.""
According to both Ford and Muller, the Street Pulse is working hard to cement its name among Madison media.
""We're doing a lot of grant application, a lot of reading on how to become a non-profit, we're starting to write our bylaws, to formalize some bylaws and to recruit a general board of directors,"" Ford said. Muller said they plan to double the paper's distribution—to 2,000 issues per month—by next fall.
Still, Muller believes the paper is only part of a bigger solution.
""It will take a lot to truly change the face of homelessness, but we at Street Pulse have created a little family of people who support each other in raising the voice of the homeless and spreading awareness throughout the Madison community,"" she said.
The Street Pulse has meetings at 7 p.m. every Sunday night at Steep n' Brew. The paper is looking to fill a variety of positions, according to Muller, and anyone who wishes to get involved should contact her at siviasuccah@gmail.com.
