Like a ray of light: Street Spirit’s progress in 2024

The room was packed shoulder to shoulder, the crowd spilling out onto the corner of 2727 California Street. That’s how many of you came out to support us at our 2024 Fall Fundraiser on November 16. We were blown away by the number of people, old friends and new, who came out to celebrate with us and donated to ensure we can continue to operate in 2025.

Highlights from the night included a panel about what’s going on in the streets of the East Bay— and what’s at stake in the post-election world—as well as the importance of art and joy in the fight to protect the human rights of unhoused people. Street Spirit vendors were the stars of the show, six of whom stood up to tell the crowd what the paper means to them. We ate, we drank, we danced, we listened to slam poetry, and came home with new posters, sweatshirts, and other mementos of a beautiful night in community together. 

None of this would have been possible last year. Street Spirit was out of print and we were working out of local cafes trying to piece together what the future of this organization might look like. There were moments when we didn’t feel it was possible, that the legacy of Street Spirit would end just shy of its 30th year. But you pulled us out of the gutter with your generosity. You shared our posts, sent us money, and hosted house parties to collect funds from your friends to send to us. This outpouring of support allowed us to get back into print just eight months after going under in June of 2023. 

Now, at the end of 2024, we have our newspaper back and are printing 6,000 copies a month. The number of vendors in our program has doubled, from 25 people in March to 49 people in October. This means that a growing number of people are earning income by selling newspapers on their own time, and learning the skills they need to re-enter the workforce. And our vendors are finding success in their own lives as well, with at least two Street Spirit vendors moving into permanent supportive housing this year!

Much of this progress is made possible by our new office space in South Berkeley, which has become a neighborhood hub for community and connection. The small drop-in center at the front of our space has created a powerful sense of belonging for homeless people in Berkeley, for whom there are a shrinking number of places to gather in a safe and healthy way. We connect these folks with food, clothing, hygiene supplies, and other resources, most of which are donated by people in our neighborhood and beyond.

Our editorial program has grown this year as well. In 2024, we published stories, poems, and art by 18 unhoused community members whose work had never before been stamped by a printing press. We’ve continued to assemble an amazing team of freelance journalists who hit the ground running every month to bring you the best of local street news. Our vision is also expanding, and we are eager to continue building new connections that allow us to explore not just homelessness, but also the growing number of issues with which it intersects. We have some exciting partnerships in the works that we can’t wait to roll out in 2025. And we want to hear from you, too. If there are stories or issues that you would like to see covered in Street Spirit, write us a letter! Same goes for if you take issue with our coverage, or want to present an alternative perspective. Send your thoughts, rants, and experiences to bradstreetspiritnews@gmail.com. This paper is a community, and we invite you to join us as we move into the new year. 

For us, Street Spirit feels like a ray of light, which has only gotten brighter as the world around us has darkened. But even though this paper has been around for nearly 30 years, operating a print publication costs money, and as a newly independent publication, fundraising to keep the lights on is a never-ending task. We are still in the beginning phases of figuring out our long-term funding plan, and half of our annual operating budget in 2025 will come from individual donations. This is where you come in.

We need to raise $150,000 by the end of the year to cover general operating costs, and invest in new programs that will allow our organization to grow. To put these operating costs into perspective, here’s a breakdown of how your donations would be put to use through 2025:

$100 covers one month of vendor food & hygiene supplies

$500 provides bus passes for our vendors for one month

$1,000 pays our office rent & utilities for one month

$1,200 covers the cost of one newspaper print run

$5,500 covers one employee’s salary for a month (pre-tax)

$15,000 sponsors a partnership with a grant writer who specializes in funding for journalism

$25,000 sponsors a new 8-week writer’s workshop + open mic

Individual donations are essential to producing independent journalism every month. All the information you need about how to donate can be found at thestreetspirit.org/give. All donations to Street Spirit are tax deductible. If you have any questions about how to donate, or would like more information about our budget and program, please reach out directly over email (streetspiritnews@gmail.com) or by phone at 510-982-6875.

If you can’t donate but still want to support, there are many ways to plug in. Here are a few ways you can get involved:

Sign up to volunteer. We have some big editorial projects coming up for which we will need volunteers—things like helping finalize our archive of over 300 newspapers going back to 1995, or organizing our backlog of amazing poetry and artwork that is submitted to the paper each month. We’re also planning our 30th anniversary party for March 2025 and need some events-minded people to lend a hand there. If you want to volunteer to help us with a project like that, get in touch: streetspiritnews@gmail.com.

Donate clothing and hygiene supplies for the winter months. Our drop-in center runs on donations from the community. We’re about to head into the coldest months of the year and we need your old shoes, jackets, and blankets to hand out to the countless unhoused people who stop by our office each week. You can always find more information about the specific things we need at thestreetspirit.org/give.

Share our story with your friends. If you have friends or family members who might have something to give this year, share this information with them. It takes a village, and as you’re a member of ours, we want to be a part of yours!

Corporate matching. Employee match programs are a great way to help any donation go further. If your employer offers a match program, consider getting some colleagues together and all chipping in to give a donation together through your employee match program. We can help you figure out how to do this if you haven’t done it before! 

Thank you all for your readership and communion during these increasingly dark days. Here’s to creating light together in 2025 and beyond!