After 28 years of publication, Street Spirit will cease publication on June 30. We have received the sudden and devastating news that after years of significant growth in the scale of services they provide to unhoused youth, our publisher, Youth Spirit Artworks, no longer has the ability to support Street Spirit.
Our last issue—at least for now—will come out on June 1 and be distributed throughout the month.
Starting in July, Street Sheet (San Francisco’s street newspaper) will print extra copies of their paper for our East Bay vendors to distribute. Readers will be able to buy it from the 40+ Street Spirit vendors who you are used to seeing outside grocery stores, cafes, farmers markets, and other parts of Berkeley, Oakland, Fairfax, and beyond. We are extremely grateful to Street Sheet for stepping up to ease this transition for our beloved vendors.
“We encourage community members to continue supporting our longtime and dedicated vendors who depend on paper sales to survive,” says Editor in Chief Alastair Boone.
Street Sheet will be circulated through our vendors in the East Bay for the foreseeable future as we develop a plan to relaunch Street Spirit, which is a vital source of East Bay news and a critical resource for many in Berkeley, Oakland, and beyond.
“I can’t think of any organization that does more than you do for people,” said former Street Spirit vendor Tyrone Jones, who sold the paper for two years before moving away from the Bay Area. “Y’all kept me going, you helped me get me together. When I sold papers I was able to express myself and who I was. I like people, and it helped me talk to people. I felt like I was somebody. And it kept money in my pocket. [After my wife died], you were my grief program. Without Street Spirit, I don’t know how I would have made it.”
Though the June issue will be our last for now, we are very hopeful about the future of Street Spirit. We are currently searching for a new home for the paper, and believe wholeheartedly that the paper has a bright future ahead.
We cannot make this transition without the financial support of our extended family of readers and supporters. We invite community members to give generously as we explore a transition plan that will allow Street Spirit to re-launch and continue to thrive for years to come.
Those who want to support our campaign to relaunch Street Spirit can do so through our fiscal sponsor, Western Regional Advocacy Project (WRAP). WRAP accepts donations online and through the mail. If you are writing a check, make sure to indicate that the money is intended for our project by writing “Street Spirit” on the memo line. If you are giving online, go to tinyurl.com/SAVESTREETSPIRIT and write “Street Spirit” in the box at the bottom of the page that says “If you have a special purpose for your
donation, please let us know.”
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