Real Change is a weekly progressive street newspaper based in Seattle, written by professional staff and sold by self-employed vendors, many of whom are homeless. The paper provides them with an alternative to panhandling and covers a variety of social justice issues, including homelessness and poverty. It became weekly in 2005, making it the second American street newspaper ever to be published weekly. Real Change is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization with an annual budget of $950,000.
History and Circulation
Real Change has been published by the Real Change Homeless Empowerment Project since 1994; the paper's founder, Tim Harris, founded the Spare Change News street newspaper in the Boston area in 1992. After moving to Seattle in 1994, he started Real Change as a monthly paper with only one staff member. Later, the paper started producing every other week. making it the second street newspaper in the country to do so. In addition to becoming a weekly newspaper, it hired several professional journalists shifting its focus to become a broadly progressive alternative paper.
In 2012, it sold 872,562 copies and raised $957,949: 68.42 percent from donations and grants; 31.26 percent from circulation, advertising and subscriptions; and 0.32 percent from other sources. As of 2017, it has a yearly circulation of 550,000 copies and sales account for 30 percent of the $1.2 million budget; beginning in 2019, vendors are able to take payment using the Venmo app.
Contents
The topics covered in Real Change are a mixture of progressive local news and information specifically pertaining to the homeless and poor. Though it covers local news, it still openly advocates for "social justice" Part of the reason for the paper becoming a weekly publication in 2005 was to attract more readers and move the newspaper's image from a "charity buy" to a legitimate source of news. They then buy the paper for sixty cents and sell it for two dollars keeping the difference, plus any tips. The paper has an average of 350 to 400 active vendors each month Real Change's "turf system" allows vendors selling over 300 papers per month to have priority at certain spots; according to Harris, this system allows buyer-vendor relationships to grow and for vendors to become well known in communities, and can minimize conflict and competition between vendors.
2006:
:*First place, personalities
2008:
:*Best feature writing
:*First place, general news reporting
:*First place, social issues
:*First place, social issues reporting
:*First place, consumer affairs news
:*First place, lifestyle reporting
:*First place, government and politics reporting