General Concept of the Magazine

Complement Other Homeless Service Agencies

How Others Do It

The Real Need

Measuring Success

The Magazine

The Market

Production
Circulation
Distribution
Editorial
Advertising

Board of Directors
Advisory Board
Organizational Structure
The Principals—
Editor, Publisher, Vendor Services

Vendor Services/Training
The Vendors
Vendor Training Details
Volunteer Mentor Program

Appendix

Vendor Service Documents

Vendor Code of Conduct
Orientation Attendance Procedure Grievance Procedure
Streetsmarts Vendor Orientation
12 Session Outline Independent Retailers Agreement
Vendor Services Report
Assistance Provided
Intake Form
Quality Assurance Team
Vendor Rules and Consequences

Volunteer Mentor Program

Editorial Content Detail

Proposed Letter to Area Journalism Teachers

Advertising
Classifieds

Financials

Startup Projections

First Year Financial Projections

Launched this month, StreetSmarts is a tabloid that focuses on social topics impacting the homeless, plus packs in general-interest stories to keep everyone flipping the pages.

But that's only a portion of the monthly magazine's appeal.

The publication, founded by Upper Eastside couple Carolyn Blair-Kaiser and Frank Kaiser, is being sold on Miami's homeless people who buy the $1 for 25 cents. They keep the rest.

The vendors—who took a crash course street vending, gathering basic tips like looking people in the eye and remembering to be aggressive—got their first 20 copies for free.

The Kaisers published 25,000 copies and have invested $55,000 of their own money saved from their advertising firm.

So far, 60 people have stopped by their office to pick up the papers.

The December cover has a scruffy Santa with a cigarette dangling from his mouth. Inside are syndicated articles by writers from the association of 40 street newspapers. Flip the magazine over, and you find the cover in Spanish with a few pages of translated articles.

It's a proven way to give the unemployed jobs, steering them away from begging, stealing and bringing them closer to hope and self-sufficiency.

"Most homeless agencies house and feed them, pushing them from one agency to the other," explained Frank Kaiser, who 18 years ago found himself homeless and sleeping in a friend's car. "It's a case of giving a man a meal or teaching him how to fish."

The concept of StreetSmarts, produced in donated office space at the Camillus House soup kitchen, is nothing new.

Chicago's successful StreetWise started in 1992 and has a circulation of 120,000. Vendors buy the papers produced by a mixture of homeless people and free lancers for 25 cents and keep the 75 cents profit. StreetWise teams up with major companies and has opened a computer lab for the homeless where they can learn new skills. The long-running Street News in New York started in 1988.

"It gives people who are not very employable an opportunity to work. It helps their self-esteem and gives them something to do," said Timothy Harris, president of North American Street Newspaper Association, based in Seattle. "The public responds to them positively and really supports people who want to help themselves."

According to the Miami-Dade Homeless Trust, the county has about 4,500 homeless people, 25 percent of whom are children.

Kevin Johnson, 27, believes the magazine can help him recover. He started selling StreetSmarts this week near tourist-soaked Bayside Marketplace and on Flagler Street.

Johnson, who said he has been off drugs for 50 days, hopes the magazine will give him a new chance at life.

"It's better than asking for money, he said. "It gives you your self-respect."

WHO TO CALL
To become a vendor or a writer for StreetSmarts, contact Frank Kaiser
or Carolyn Blair-Kaiser between 1 and 4 p.m. weekdays.

Herald staff writer Leslie Casimir can be reached by e-mail at lcasimir@herald.com

When it comes to spending millions to house the homeless and rid Fort Lauderdale of Tent City, well, community leaders in Broward are right there with bags of cash for a new homeless hotel.

But when a nonprofit promotes a new idea to actually employ the homeless, well, those same government and homeless-agency leaders can't seem to spare a dime.

Consider the plight of StreetSmarts, a struggling monthly magazine about the homeless that's now being sold on Broward street corners. The idea is to put the unemployed to work actually selling a publication instead of panhandling. Of the buck it costs, the vendor keeps 75 cents and 25 goes back to the nonprofit to help pay expenses.

Similar papers across the country have succeeded because they point a spotlight on poverty issues such as gentrification of neighborhoods and black market shelters. StreetSmarts is still trying to find a local focus: The cover story features a homeless Santa, and there's a celebrity interview with Martin Sheen, which was taken from another publication.

The publishers have sent out hundreds of letters to homeless coalitions and government funders, only to be turned down each and every time. An attempt to get some money from the Broward Coalition for the Homeless led to an offer of a $500 ad -- that's if the paper runs a story written by the person running the coalition.

MIGUEL (V.O.): Frank and Carolyn Kaiser live just a couple of miles north of downtown Miami. But unlike most residents in this lavish condominium community they decided to do something to help the more than 10,000...

Scene: Tent City in Broward. Editor, Frank Kaiser, talking to homeless woman, a resident of Tent City.

MIGUEL (V.O.): ...homeless men, women and children who live on the streets just a few miles away.

MIGUEL (V.O.): The former ad executives have created a new magazine called StreetSmarts.

CAROLYN KAISER: StreetSmarts is a program that will enable homeless people to become employed.

MIGUEL (V.O.): The concept isn’t a new one. Homeless newspapers and magazines have proven successful in other cities like New York, Chicago and Cincinnati. The idea is to train homeless vendors in everything from self-esteem to how to approach customers. The homeless workers are then given magazines to sell and they keep 60% of their earnings.

Tent City: Interview with resident Didi by Miguel

DIDI: Well, both of us really need steady jobs.

MIGUEL (V.O.): Kenneth and Didi are engaged and they have lived together in Ten City in Fort Lauderdale for three years now.

DIDI: No woman or man should have to live this way.

MIGUEL (V.O.): But Frank Kaiser did. Over 20 years ago, he was homeless too and both the Kaisers’ are recovering drug and alcohol abusers. They've been clean since 1979.

FRANK: We know, full well, that any of us could be out there, it’s just a matter of fortune.

MIGUEL (V.O.): Selling magazines isn’t enough to make a fortune, but it’s a start. Sound naive?

MIGUEL (V.O.): FAU professor Robert Luce doesn't think so. He specializes in small business and publications and he thinks it will work. He told us, quote “This is one of the vest ways of having homeless people contribute to themselves. it helps them become self sufficient, and gives them a sense of pride.”

MIGUEL (V.O.): And for folks like Didi that may be enough to help get her back on her feet.

DIDI: I believe the first thing that it does sir, is it build up positive self esteem. It builds confidence.

MIGUEL: And Amy, more than confidence, the numbers prove that it does work. In Chicago, more than 3,000 people have been taken off the streets, are now happy, working and have a roof over their heads. Expect StreetSmarts to be out November 15th.

AMY: Thank you, Miguel. I’ll be looking forward to buying my copy of StreetSmarts.