| Last
weekend, seven of us Real Changers drove to Portland for
the North American Street Newspaper Association conference.
I gave workshops in values-based vendor support and street
newspaper fundraising and tried to be helpful. Exciting
new papers are developing in Vancouver, B.C. and Denver,
Colo., so I spent some time helping each of those teams
get off on the right foot.
Real Change is the gold standard of North American street
papers, and by virtue of having started Boston’s
Spare Change in 1992, I’ve become the “old
man” of the movement. This is brought to my awareness
each year as I look around the room and note that most
folks are around 15 years my junior and can easily drink
me under a table. I don’t even try. They start to
party at nine, and I head back to my dorm room to read,
write, and drink water, and at the end of the conference
I’m still wiped out. Go figure.
One of the things I always say is “quality equals
dignity.” If one of the core values isn’t
to create the best newspaper possible, they’ve not
only undermined their vendors’ success, they’ve
undermined their vendors’ dignity as well. Vendors
need a newspaper that people want to read. Anything less
is a pity purchase, and half-a-step from begging.
People respond to quality, and our circulation is up 17
percent this year. Your support has helped us get there.
You make all the difference.
For daily posts by Tim Harris, see apesmaslament.blogspot.com.
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