Why the Newspaper? Making Change... is a project that grew out of Side by Side, a community partnership formed to devise creative solutions to problems homeless people face. Making Change... produces a tabloid-style newspaper. Participating homeless purchase papers for $2 for ten copies, and sell them for $2 per copy, generating a modest income for themselves. Much of the paper's content, including articles, artwork and poetry is created by homeless contributors. In one year, 140 Making Change... vendors sold $35,000 worth of papers to caring citizens on the Westside. The organization has the lowest administrative overhead (20 cents of every paper sold) of any social service agency in Los Angeles County.

Making Change... is organized as a cooperative, whose members include production staff and vendors. We have our own volunteers and community support, but currently operate under the organizational umbrella of Friends of Choices, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit corporation which supports people in recovery from chemical dependency. Many of the people we serve suffer from alcoholism and/or drug addiction. Because of our regular interactions with those so afflicted, we are in a position to encourage and support them in seeking appropriate treatment.

Goals and Objectives:

1. Help the homless to acquire, skills, experience and motivation
2. Create an opportunity for the participating homeless to earn a small income
3. Publish a paper that educates, enlightens and entertains both the housed and homeless populations
4. Expand our distribution to the downtown Los Angeles area by working with the downtown Community Action Network
5. Help organize new homeless partnerships in other areas of the city

Future projects include hiring homeless people to manage and edit the paper, and an Internet café providing the homeless and others with internet access. Like the paper, the café would be operated largely by the homeless themselves.

Who Do We Target With Our Services? We seek to serve the homeless with meaningful paying work and the community with a fiscally efficient way of eliminating homelessness. The paper itself seeks to inform the general population about homelessness issues. We also benefit other governmental and nonprofit social service agencies by providing a cost-effective means for them to communicate the availability of their services to the homeless population. Finally we benefit our homeless vendors, who are able to earn a modest income by selling copies of the paper.

Advertising Rates

Measurements are for sizing in inches for art layout submitted. No Ad? Photos and text can be submitted, and layout services will be provided at an additional cost. Contact us for details.

Subscriptions are $35.00 (payable to: Friends of Choices) and individual copies are $2.00 each.

Our advertisers have included:

Foundation Grants include: Agape Foundation, the Big Issue Foundation, Durfee Foundation, Liberty Hill Foundation, and Resist, Inc. Thanks for your support!