I'm excited to share that South Carolina Public Radio, a local NPR affiliate, broadcast a story yesterday about a Speak Up writing workshop we facilitated earlier this week at the York County Library in Rock Hill.

The written article is terrific, but the broadcast piece especially is worth your time. It does a superb job of sharing the real voices of people on the streets. You’ll hear from Ben, Thomas, Mark, and Naomi:

Folks facing homelessness get a voice in Rock Hill – their own

Here's an excerpt from reporter and producer Scott Morgan:

The aim is not just to pay people for their work, it’s also to give them agency; a voice, where voicelessness and invisibility are the norm.

Sitting among these writers, it’s impossible to not be moved by their experiences; angered by how so many people make them feel; and struck by how they completely do not see their situation as the defining characteristic of their lives. When prompted to write “I am,” the writers say things like “worthy,” “blessed,” “optimistic,” and “strong.”

Be sure to click the “Listen” button in the article to hear those powerful voices.

It is such a privilege to help draw out these voices and stories!

Update: that one-off writing workshop is now going to become a weekly event. We are extremely grateful to York County Library Rock Hill for the inspired, generous partnership.

We’re now also hosting a weekly online writing workshop for our homeless friends who are dispersed around the country. More details.

VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITY

Would you like to see an in-person writing workshop for people facing homelessness in your community? Start one with Speak Up—from anywhere. Learn more.

Things are moving quickly for Speak Up. Over the last month we've worked with more writers and street entrepreneurs than during any other month in the previous five years! The enthusiasm I'm seeing from new friends on the streets is genuinely humbling.

These two recent pieces are just a taste of what’s coming:

Needed From You

Will you further amplify this work by donating to Speak Up today?

Your tax-deductible gift strengthens and accelerates this work.

Two big giving needs:

• General support — This keeps the ship sailing, covers all our operating expenses. Click the link for more details and to give.

• More Speak Up in 2024 — Campaign to to pay writers and print magazines. Demand to write for Speak Up is at an all-time high, we need more funding for this project.

Thanks for reading, listening, and taking the time!

Thank you,

Matt Shaw
Executive Director

Hopefully you’ll read this entire post.

But if you only have 20 seconds, here's the short version:

• For two years we've been promoting and distributing "job in a box" outreach kits called Pursuit Packs.

• We've learned a lot. And Pursuit Packs are now being radically redesigned.

• They'll cost 1/4 of the price. We’ll create way more. It'll be easier for everyone.

• PLUS: Everything about the onboarding and support pathway is improving.

• And you can help:

Donate to Make it Possible

Going Deeper: Pursuit Packs Version 2.0

The idea behind "Pursuit Packs" has been to offer a "job in a box" outreach kit that someone facing homelessness can use to earn emergency cash and develop longterm recurring income.

We’ve equipped volunteers in multiple states with these kits as resources they can give to someone who is begging or facing poverty.

This goes beyond the standard handouts of cash or food and toiletries care packages. Each Pursuit Pack carries opportunity.

Well, we've learned A LOT over the last couple years—about what works and what doesn't work. We are retooling the Pursuit Packs entirely.

Some of the changes involve the following shifts:

• Simplified process for both volunteers and homeless recipients.

• Digital-only version that can be accessed via QR code.

• PHYSICALLY SMALLER. Among other things, this makes it easier for volunteers to carry: initial version of the kits weighed 11 pounds and took up too much space.

• MUCH CHEAPER — Previous versions contained a lot of stuff. The new ones will be highly focused and deliverable for about one quarter of the cost.

• A two-phase approach: the full packs only go to self-verified recipients.

• An incentive-driven onboarding pathway for homeless recipients.

We need your financial support.

The new kits now consist of two parts:

1. The outreach handout and incentive.

2. Full kit for verified recipients.

By breaking each kit into two phases—with an essential Speak Up touchpoint in the middle—we'll be able to reach more people, filter out non-candidates, and do it faster for much less money.

Thank for your time.

• Please check out Ruth’s Life, a new publication from longtime Speak Up magazine vendor and writer Ruth. She draws and podcasts.

• Reflecting on The Crash is the most recent essay from Speak Up. Elijah Kelly reflections on lessons learned from crashing into homelessness.

Those dispatches—however they come—are often retyped and published for a wider audience.

Frequently they include phrases like "please share this story!" and "people need to hear this!"

Donate to Speak Up

In this age of perpetual media, it is technically easy for many people to speak up, use their voice, and share their story. But not for everyone. For some, the barriers are higher than ever.

Homelessness, incarceration, mental illness, poverty, oppression, abuse: those are just a few of the reasons that people with something to say keep quiet.

This is where we—you, us—get to play a crucial role: as cheerleaders, facilitators, and guides to help those whose voices have been muted or suppressed.

It is such a privilege to help share those stories via Speak Up. Your partnership: as a willing reader, as a donor (we need you!), or as a volunteer is essential.

Volunteer Opportunity: Content Development Editor

Help give a voice to more people than we are currently reaching.

Let us know if interested.

​Donate to Speak Up: We Need Your Partnership

Donate to Speak Up

Dear Reader,

Over the last couple years since we began publishing Speak Up Mag online, you’ve had the opportunity to read many dozens of stories written by people facing homelessness. Their pieces have been rich, funny, shocking, and surprising.

Here are a few highlights:

Think Better — Angel Williams

The Cigarette Cartel — Mark Gansert

Suddenly Homeless — Lynn Mendes

Thank you to the dozens of courageous writers who have shared these thoughtful and vulnerable episodes from your lives. Much respect. Much love.

Now we are looking for pieces written by anyone about encounters with folks facing homelessness.

We want to present other angles of the homeless experience—and need your voice to do it.

To start, there’s no limiting criteria.

The tone of your piece can be upbeat and sunny or bleak and gritty. It can have a happy ending or conclude without resolution. You can share about a long-term friendship or a one-time encounter. Maybe this person is a family member, a familiar sidewalk presence, or a passing stranger. The story you are carrying may not be a happy one. Or it could be unexpectedly hopeful.

Bottom line: authentic and real.

Ideal length starts at 400 words minimum, with no upper limit.

Send your piece in the body of an email or as an attachment to write@speakupmag.com.

Thank you!

Bill is thankful to have found simplicity.

Kelli is grateful for new people.

C.C. is thankful for an abundant life.

Vince appreciates many kind strangers.

We’re also thankful for you.

Readers
For reading, engaging, and sharing the homeless and voiceless-authored articles.

Volunteers
Who have requested and passed out dozens of Pursuit Packs (a job in a box) to people facing poverty and homelessness.

Pursuit Pack Partners
You have donated to create dozens of Pursuit Packs.

Street Entrepreneurs
Who are using resources from Speak Up, ignited by your own hard work and grit, to transform your situations and work toward escaping homelessness.

Writers
Who have shared your voice, told your stories, and impacted us through your illuminating and inspiring work.

Speak Up Donors
For your continued generous giving to provide general support funding for Speak Up to continue the mission of a voice and opportunity for those on the streets.

Thank you!

Speak Up T-Shirts Interest Survey

It has been many years since we’ve offered any Speak Up-themed apparel.

As we consider doing so again, please help us gauge interest by responding to the following poll.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Please a comment and let us know what you are thankful for today.

We call them Pursuit Packs for two reasons.

Reason Number One: To Restore The Joy of Pursuit

Each of these little kits can restore “pursuit” for someone facing homelessness.

For many people, a positive pursuit can lead to purpose, a discovery of self-confidence, and a resurgence of dignity. Those qualities are often in short supply for people facing homelessness!

Over the years, we been amazed at the transformation that happens when a “beggar” chooses to join Speak Up and transform into a micro-business owner.

For the first time in years, they have an occupation, a direction, and a positive pursuit.

Reason Number Two: Pursuit Packs are used in the pursuit of people

The majority of Pursuit Packs that get handed out are first requested by volunteers who then bring them to specific people facing homelessness.

These packs are foremost a tool for financial empowerment.

But they can also be used to foster connection, build trust, and create community for the homeless-facing recipient.

We often hear from non-homeless people who want to help a particular person, but they don’t know how to bridge the divide.

Pursuit Packs can bridge that divide. They are used to pursue—and invite into community—those weary individuals who may be skeptical of strangers.

We need you to create more Pursuit Packs.

Can you help give someone a hand up today?

Pursuit Packs Donation

Thank you for giving opportunity to those people most in need!

Each Pursuit Pack is a “job in a box” for someone facing homelessness.

Pursuit Packs contain printed copies of Speak Up Magazine for a street entrepreneur to sell, tools for them to create recurring income, and other useful resources.

With your support, we’ve created and shipped nearly 100 packs this year.

HOW IT WORKS:

Readers like you donate to create the Pursuit Packs and cover the follow-up support costs. Once assembled, the packs are distributed freely to volunteers or given directly to people in need.

Twenty-six people have donated so far to make this happen.

Thanks to them, Speak Up has sent Pursuit Packs to folks in Michigan, Colorado, Illinois, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida—and have given them out directly in multiple other states.

UPDATE: We shipped out our final Pursuit Pack last week!

For the first time all year, demand has outpaced supply.

Inventory is at ZERO.

Depending on how you look at it, running out of Pursuit Packs is actually a good problem to have. It shows that this solution is meeting a real need!

Now we need you to create more Pursuit Packs.

Can you help give someone a hand up today?

Pursuit Packs Donation

Thank you for giving opportunity to those people most in need!

Ruth joined Speak Up in 2012. Over the years, she’s sold thousands of magazines (she says “it feels like millions”), impacted hundreds of readers, made many dozens of friends, and spread light and love throughout the city of Charlotte.

When asked to describe herself, Ruth said, “I love people, animals, and babies.”

Ruth is a talent artist. She has published nearly a half dozen coloring books with Speak Up and promises more to come.

She’s currently safely housed—out of the cycle of homelessness—thanks to a network of supportive friends and her partnership with Speak Up.

Her Speak Up income—from selling magazines and digital subscriptions—is critical for her everyday living expenses.

Subscribe via Ruth

Subscribe via Ruth

Your $10 monthly subscription does the following:

• Gives you full access to all Speak Up content, articles, and community features.

• Provides an ongoing voice for the voiceless and creates an income opportunity for people facing hardship.

• Directly supports Ruth as she work to improve her situation by selling magazines and subscriptions to Speak Up.

Subscribe via Ruth

Use your social capital

Will you take two minutes to partner with Ruth? It costs nothing.

Just click the share button for this post.

Share

Spread the word through your personal networks via social media, email, and in real life. When people Subscribe via Ruth, she gets paid.

Thank you to our sponsors who make this work possible.

INA Towing Network is a top provider of ERS Towing and services. They combine a superior operations platform at a state of the art operations center with their Elite provider network, to deliver clients the highest quality service.

Forquer Law provides quality service in a relaxed atmosphere where the customer, and their needs, come first while building quality relationships between them and other real estate professionals. They specialize in real estate transactions, with a vision for seeing everyone find housing.

Lakeshore Christian Fellowship is a church in Tega Cay, SC, with a mission of seeing Love confirmed, Hope renewed, and Faith come to Life.

Watch this quick video.

Read more

In the coming months we are looking to add a new layer to Speak Up’s written content: audio stories read by authors facing homelessness, distributed via podcast.

This has been a long time in the making—we first started talking about it over a year ago.

Read more

Read more

Read more

Speak Up Magazine is written by people who are currently on the streets, near-homeless, and formerly homeless. The entire archive can be read for free.

Please upgrade for $10 monthly — all proceeds from your subscription go to paying homeless writers.

Subscribe now

Here are a few essential pieces to get you started.

No Idea Why
Gun violence. Loss. Redemption. By Edward Smalls.

One Week on the Streets
A daily journal of homelessness from Vince Shumate. Winner of the INSP Award for Best Vendor Writing.

Unmentionables
Renee Rop writes on the physical and emotional hazards of being female and homeless.

Speak Up is More Than a Magazine

Learn More — Give a voice. Build community. Find dignity.

Get Involved  — Volunteer from wherever you are.

Donate — Provide general support, sponsor writers, fund a workshop, etc.

Order Pursuit Pack Outreach Kits — Hand out “A Job in a Box.”

Are You Homeless?

Join Speak Up —  Earn money, use your voice, get connected.

Get Connected — Online community for people on the streets.

Write for Speak Up — Tell your story and get paid.

Join a Writing Workshop — Use your voice online and in person.

Subscribe now