Street newspapers are newspapers or magazines that are sold by homeless or poor individuals and are produced mainly to support these populations. Most such newspapers primarily provide coverage about homelessness and poverty-related issues, and seek to strengthen social networks within homeless communities. Street papers aim to give these individuals both employment opportunities and a voice in their community. In addition to being sold by homeless individuals, many papers are partially produced and written by them. Several publications by charity, religious, and labor organizations tried to draw attention to the homeless in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, but street newspapers only became common after the founding of New York City's Street News in 1989. Similar papers are now published in over 30 countries, with most located in the United States and Western Europe. They are supported by governments, charities, and coalitions such as the International Network of Street Papers and the North American Street Newspaper Association. Although street newspapers have multiplied, many still face challenges, including funding shortages, unreliable staff and difficulty in generating interest and maintaining an audience.
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_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1607:
An expedition led by Edward Maria Wingfield, Christopher Newport, and John Smith established the Jamestown Settlement in Virginia, the first permanent English settlement in North America. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamestown_Settlement
1796:
English scientist Edward Jenner began testing cowpox as a vaccine for protection against smallpox. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Jenner
1804:
The Lewis and Clark Expedition led by explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark left Camp Dubois near present-day Hartford, Illinois, and began the first American overland expedition to the Pacific coast and back. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_and_Clark_Expedition
1943:
World War II: The Australian Hospital Ship Centaur was attacked and sunk by a Japanese submarine off the coast of Queensland, killing 268 people aboard. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AHS_Centaur
1948:
David Ben-Gurion publicly read the Israeli Declaration of Independence at the present-day Independence Hall in Tel Aviv, officially establishing a new Jewish state in parts of the former British Mandate of Palestine. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Declaration_of_Independence_%28Israel%29
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
grue (adj): 1. (philosophy) Of an object, green when first observed before a specified time or blue when first observed after that time.
2. (linguistics) A term sometimes used as a translation of the word used for both "green" and "blue" in certain languages, such as Welsh, that do not distinguish between the two colors http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/grue
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
Errors now almost universally exist, and must be overcome solely by the force of reason; and as reason, to effect the most beneficial purposes, makes her advance by slow degrees, and progressively substantiates one truth of high import after another, it will be evident, to minds of comprehensive and accurate thought, that by these and similar compromises alone can success be rationally expected in practice. For such compromises bring truth and error before the public; and whenever they are fairly exhibited together, truth must ultimately prevail. --Robert Owen http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_Owen