Editing Real Change

{{short description|Newspaper in Seattle, Washington}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2025}}
{{Infobox newspaper
| name                = Real Change
| image               = Real Change Logo.jpg
| caption             = 
| type                = Weekly [[street newspaper]]
| format              = [[Compact (newspaper)|Compact]]
| foundation          = 1994
| ceased publication  = 
| price               = USD $2.00 <ref name="next city"/>
| founder              = Tim Harris
| political position  = Homeless advocacy
| publisher           = 
| editor              = 
| managing director   = Shelley Dooley
| circulation         = 13,000 weekly (2019)<ref name="next city">{{Cite news|url=https://nextcity.org/features/view/the-paper-on-the-street|title=The Paper on the Street|last=Vande Panne|first=Valerie|date=May 27, 2019|website=nextcity.org|language=en|access-date=2019-11-24|quote=The paper has 16 staffers and a $1.2 million annual budget, with a weekly circulation of 13,000 copies}}</ref>
| headquarters        = 
| website             = [http://www.realchangenews.org/ realchangenews.org]
}}

'''''Real Change''''' is a weekly [[progressivism|progressive]] [[street newspaper]] based in [[Seattle, Washington]], [[United States|USA]] written by [[professional]] staff and sold by self-employed vendors, many of whom are [[homeless]]. The paper provides them with an alternative to [[begging|panhandling]] and covers a variety of social justice issues, including homelessness and poverty.<ref name=genius>{{cite news |title=Honorary Political Genius: Tim Harris and Real Change |author=Dominic Holden |publisher=The Stranger |url=http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/tim-harris-and-real-change/Content?oid=4887748 |date=16 September 2010}}</ref>  It became weekly in 2005, making it the second American street newspaper ever to be published weekly. Real Change is a [[501(c) organization|501(c)(3)]] non-profit organization with an annual budget of $950,000.<ref name=defends>{{cite news |title=Real Change defends donation to anti-tunnel effort |author=Emily Heffter |publisher=Seattle Times |url=http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/politicsnorthwest/2015485844_pro-tunnel_campaign_says_real.html |date=1 July 2011}}</ref>

==History and Circulation==
''Real Change'' has been published by the Real Change Homeless Empowerment Project since 1994;<ref name=pi/><ref>{{cite web | title=Real Change History | url=http://realchange.wikispaces.com/page/view/History/19101075 | publisher=Real Change | date=10 March 2008 | accessdate=21 March 2009 | url-status=dead | archiveurl=https://archive.today/20120716083937/http://realchange.wikispaces.com/page/view/History/19101075 | archivedate=16 July 2012 }}</ref> the paper's founder, Tim Harris, founded the ''[[Spare Change News]]'' street newspaper in the [[Boston, Massachusetts|Boston]] area in 1992. After moving to Seattle in 1994, he started ''Real Change''<ref name=KUOW>{{cite web |url=http://www.kuow.org/program.php?id=25992 |title=KUOW 94.9 FM Seattle interview, The Conversation |date=15 Feb 2012 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120603175023/http://www.kuow.org/program.php?id=25992 |archivedate=2012-06-03 }}roughly at 10:30 into interview</ref> as a monthly paper with only one staff member. Later, the paper started producing every other week.<ref name=pi/>

In February 2005, ''Real Change'' began publishing weekly due to increasing interest and sales,<ref name=pi>{{cite news | url=http://www.seattlepi.com/local/210355_realchange02.html | date=2 February 2005 | accessdate=21 March 2009 | title=Real Change expands to become first weekly street paper | work=[[Seattle Post-Intelligencer]] | last=Harrell | first=Debera Carlton }}{{Dead link|date=December 2021 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> making it the second street newspaper in the country to do so.<ref group=note>''[[StreetWise]]'', a Chicago street newspaper, went weekly in 1998. ({{cite book | last=Green | first=Norma Fay | title=Print Culture in a Diverse America | year=1998 | others=eds. James Philip Danky, Wayne A. Wiegand | publisher=University of Illinois Press | isbn=978-0-252-06699-3 | chapter=Chicago's ''StreetWise'' at the Crossroads: A Case Study of a Newspaper to Empower the Homeless in the 1990s | chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Vqtgo0Zi0jEC&dq=%22street+newspapers%22&pg=PA48 | page=51}}
)</ref>  In addition to becoming a weekly newspaper, it hired several professional journalists shifting its focus to become a broadly [[Progressivism|progressive]] alternative paper.<ref name=dawdy/><ref name=readers/> As a biweekly, it sold 18,000 copies every two weeks;<ref name=pi/> and now has a weekly circulation of 16,000 papers. In April 2013, the paper's price increased from one dollar to two dollars and was the sixth street newspaper to do so.<ref>{{cite news|last=Brill|first=Linda|title=Real Change newspaper's price hike a boost for vendors .|url=http://www.king5.com/news/cities/seattle/Real-Change-Price-Change-203702351.html|accessdate=20 April 2013|newspaper=KING 5 News|date=18 April 2013|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130424050142/http://www.king5.com/news/cities/seattle/Real-Change-Price-Change-203702351.html|archivedate=24 April 2013}}</ref>

In 2012, it sold 872,562 copies and raised $957,949: 68.42 percent from donations and grants; 31.26 percent from circulation, advertising and [[subscriptions]]; and 0.32 percent from other sources.<ref name=2012annual>{{cite news|title=Real Change: 2012 Annual Report|newspaper=Real Change|date=13 March 2013}}</ref> As of 2017, it has a yearly circulation of 550,000 copies and sales account for 30 percent of the $1.2 million budget; beginning in 2019, vendors are able to take payment using the [[Venmo]] app.<ref>{{cite news |last=Doughton |first=Sandi |authorlink=Sandi Doughton |date=January 10, 2019 |title=Real Change: How Seattle's street newspaper plans to survive in the digital age |url=https://www.seattletimes.com/pacific-nw-magazine/real-change-how-seattles-street-newspaper-plans-to-survive-in-the-digital-age/ |work=The Seattle Times |accessdate=January 10, 2019}}</ref>

==Contents==
The topics covered in ''Real Change'' are a mixture of progressive local news and information specifically pertaining to the homeless and poor. Though it covers local news, it still openly advocates for "[[social justice]]"<ref name=dawdy/> and attempts to educate readers about homelessness.<ref name=pi/>  Some readers, though, admit that they buy the paper more to help out and interact with the vendors than to actually read the contents;<ref name=readers>{{cite news | last=Green | first=Sara Jean | title=Real Change's transformation includes plan to reach readers | work=[[Seattle Times]] | url=https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/20050201/homeless01m/real-changes-transformation-includes-plan-to-reach-readers | date=1 February 2005 | access-date=21 March 2009}}</ref><ref name=hsu/> this pattern of buying is common among street newspapers.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rrj.ca/issue/2002/summer/373/ |year=2002 |accessdate=12 February 2009 |last=Brown |first=Ann M. |title=Small Papers, Big Issues |work=[[Ryerson Review of Journalism]] |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070911030448/http://www.rrj.ca/issue/2002/summer/373/ |archivedate=September 11, 2007 }}</ref><ref name=Torck372>{{cite journal | journal=Discourse and Society | volume=12 | issue=3 | title=Voices of Homeless People in Street Newspapers: A Cross-Cultural Exploration | last=Torck | first=Danièle | year=2001 | pages=271&ndash;392 [372] | doi=10.1177/0957926501012003005 | s2cid=145648624 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last=Green | first=Norma Fay | title=Print Culture in a Diverse America | year=1998 | others=eds. James Philip Danky, Wayne A. Wiegand | publisher=University of Illinois Press | isbn=978-0-252-06699-3 | chapter=Chicago's ''StreetWise'' at the Crossroads: A Case Study of a Newspaper to Empower the Homeless in the 1990s | chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Vqtgo0Zi0jEC&dq=%22street+newspapers%22&pg=PA48 | page=40}}</ref>  Part of the reason for the paper becoming a weekly publication in 2005 was to attract more readers and move the newspaper's image from a "charity buy" to a legitimate source of news.<ref name=readers/>

==Vendors==
[[File:Robert of Real Change.jpg|thumb|Real Change vendor (2008)]]
Anyone may be a ''Real Change'' vendor. However, most are poor or unable to hold a regular job due to physical disability, [[mental illness]], [[criminal records]], or other issues.<ref name=hsu/>  After attending an orientation and signing a code of conduct, Vendors get their first 10 papers free.<ref name=hsu>{{cite web | url=http://www.seattleweekly.com/2007-04-11/news/not-all-the-peddlers-of-seattle-s-homeless-paper-are-homeless.php | work=[[Seattle Weekly]] | title=Not All the Peddlers of Seattle's Homeless Paper Are Homeless | last=Hsu | first=Huan | date=10 April 2007 | accessdate=14 March 2009}}</ref> They then buy the paper for sixty cents and sell it for two dollars keeping the difference, plus any [[tip (gratuity)|tip]]s.<ref name=KUOW/><ref name=dawdy>{{cite web | url=http://www.seattleweekly.com/2005-08-03/arts/best-grassroots-media-outlet.php | work=[[Seattle Weekly]] | last=Dawdy | first=Philip | title=Best Grassroots Media Outlet | date=3 August 2005 | accessdate=21 March 2009}}</ref> The paper has an average of 350 to 400 active vendors each month<ref name=2011_report>{{cite web|title=2011 Annual Report|url=http://realchangenews.org/images/uploads/site_images/2011_AnnualReport.pdf|publisher=Real Change|accessdate=9 January 2013|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20141007115218/http://realchangenews.org/images/uploads/site_images/2011_AnnualReport.pdf|archivedate=7 October 2014}}</ref><ref name=genius/> and there as many as 800 vendors in a year, if occasional vendors are included.<ref name=pi/>

Most vendors sell within Seattle proper, although some sell in the [[Eastside (King County, Washington)|Eastside]], as far north as Bellingham, and as far south as Olympia, WA.<ref name="pi" /> Vendors may sell without restriction on sidewalks and public spaces, and sometimes need to obtain permission to sell in commercial areas like [[Shopping mall|mall]]s.<ref name=pi/> Several vendors are very successful, selling as many as 2,000 papers a month and being known as "fixtures" in the [[community]],<ref name=hsu/> however most sell far less than that.<ref name=harris>{{cite web | url=http://apesmaslament.blogspot.com/2007/04/seattle-weekly-what-fuck.html | title=Seattle Weekly: What the Fuck? | last=Harris | first=Tim | date=5 April 2007 | accessdate=21 March 2009}}</ref> ''Real Change's'' "turf system" allows vendors selling over 300 papers per month to have priority at certain spots;<ref>{{cite web|author=Erica|title=Sandra Sells Social Scoop by the Safeway|url=http://ericawebster.wordpress.com/|accessdate=13 January 2013}}</ref>  according to Harris, this system allows buyer-vendor relationships to grow and for vendors to become well known in communities, and can minimize  [[Conflict (process)|conflict]] and [[competition]] between vendors.<ref name=hsu/>

Not all the vendors of ''Real Change'' are [[homeless]], several are able to afford an apartment by selling the paper and others share [[Dwelling|accommodations]] with others.  Like [[Washington, D.C.]]'s ''[[Street Sense (newspaper)|Street Sense]]'', ''Real Change'' does not screen incoming vendors for income or living situation, nor does it "retire" vendors after they have obtained stable housing.  The paper's staff have stated, however, that the majority of vendors are living in [[poverty]] and no vendors are "living in the bling-bling" from selling papers.<ref name=hsu/>

==Awards==

2004:
:*Susan Hutchison Bosch Award for outstanding achievement<ref>{{cite news|title=P-I wins 25 regional journalism awards|url=http://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/P-I-wins-25-regional-journalism-awards-1144929.php|accessdate=10 January 2013|newspaper=Seattle Post-Intelligencer|date=16 May 2004}}</ref>

2006:
:*First place, personalities<ref>{{cite web|title=Excellence in Journalism Competition 2006|url=http://www.spjwash.org/downloads/SPJ06awards.pdf|publisher=Society of Professional Journalists Western Washington Pro Chapter|accessdate=14 January 2013}}</ref>

2008:
:*Best feature writing<ref>{{cite web|title=Society of Professional Journalists {{!}} Sigma Delta Chi Awards|url=http://www.spj.org/sdxa08.asp|publisher=Society of Professional Journalists|accessdate=10 January 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=O'Hagan|first=Maureen|title=Real Change newspaper wins national award, attracts readers|url=http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2009079250_realchange18m.html|accessdate=13 January 2013|newspaper=Seattle Times|date=18 April 2009}}</ref>
:*First place, general news reporting<ref name=awards_2008>{{cite web|title=SPJ 09|url=http://www.spjwash.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/spj09_awards1.pdf|publisher=2009 Society of Professional Journalists of the Pacific Northwest|accessdate=13 January 2013}}</ref> 
:*First place, social issues<ref name=awards_2008/>
:*First place, minorities<ref name=awards_2008/>
:*Third place, humorous writing<ref name=awards_2008/>
:*Honorable mention, personalities<ref name=awards_2008/>

2009:
:*First place, educational reporting<ref name=2009_awards>{{cite news|title=SPJ Northwest Excellence in Journalism awards|url=http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2011932304_apwaspjpacificnorthwestawards.html|accessdate=10 January 2013|newspaper=The Seattle Times via The Associated Press|date=22 May 2010}}</ref> 
:*First place, social issues reporting<ref name=2009_awards/>
:*First place, Arts reporting and criticism<ref name=2009_awards/>

2011:
:*First place, education news<ref name=WPA>{{cite web|title=2011winners_order|url=http://www.washingtonpressassociation.com/Files/2011winners_order.pdf|publisher=washington press association|accessdate=13 January 2013}}</ref>
:*First place, consumer affairs news<ref name=WPA/>
:*Third place, social issues, religion, minority affairs<ref name=WPA/>
:*Third place, personality profile<ref name=WPA/>

2012:
:*First place, general news coverage<ref name=2012_awards>{{cite web|title=2012 SPJ Northwest Excellence in Journalism Contest|url=http://blogs.spjnetwork.org/region10/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/2012-SPJ-NW-Excellence-in-Journalism-Contest-Awards-Booklet.pdf|publisher=Society of Professional Journalists|accessdate=12 June 2013}}</ref>
:*First place, lifestyle reporting<ref name=2012_awards/>
:*First place, page design<ref name=2012_awards/>
:*Second place, government and politics reporting<ref name=2012_awards/>
:*Second place, feature photography<ref name=2012_awards/>
:*Third place, page design<ref name=2012_awards/>

2013:
:*First place, general news coverage<ref name=2013_SPJawards>{{cite web|title=2013 SPJ Northwest Excellence in Journalism Contest|url=http://blogs.spjnetwork.org/region10/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/2013spjresults.pdf|archive-url=https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20141218143525/http://blogs.spjnetwork.org/region10/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/2013spjresults.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=18 December 2014|publisher=Society of Professional Journalists|accessdate=12 June 2013}}</ref>
:*First place, government and politics reporting<ref name=2013_SPJawards/>
:*First place, education reporting<ref name=2013_SPJawards/>
:*First place, page design<ref name=2013_SPJawards/>
:*Second place, page design<ref name=2013_SPJawards/>
:*Second place, social issues reporting<ref name=2013_SPJawards/>
:*Second place, general excellence<ref name=2013_SPJawards/>
:*Third place, sports reporting<ref name=2013_SPJawards/>

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.realchangenews.org/ Real Change News Homepage]
*[http://realchange.wikispaces.com/ Real Change Wikispace]

{{Street newspapers}}

[[Category:Newspapers published in Seattle]]
[[Category:Street newspapers]]
[[Category:Newspapers established in 1994]]
[[Category:1994 establishments in Washington (state)]]