Dave Whitaker calls it the ”trickle up theory.”
He and other backers of StreetWise, the new monthly publication written by volunteers but marketed by homeless Chicagoans trying to change their status in life, say that the goal of the project is to give poor people an avenue out. But another goal, said Whitaker who co-edits the newspaper, is to direct a line of communication up from the streets to much loftier places.
”We want to give poor people not only a chance to change their situations but also a chance to help change the backward government that helped put them there,” the paper`s editor-in-chief, Casey Covganka, said at a casual party Wednesday to help publicize the first issue due out in late August.
About 50 people paid the $10 donation to gather in a back room of Schuba`s bar, 3159 N. Southport Ave., where they were served chicken wings, live pop music, and new ideas about the homeless.
Homeless participating in the project will be given 10 copies of the newspaper to sell on the street for $1 each. They can use the money they take in to provide for some of their needs. If they wish to earn more money, they would pay 25 cents each for additional copies to sell.
”It is our hope to use this project to teach entrepreneurial skills and show them that they can provide for themselves,” said Judd Lofchie, an attorney. Lofchie is the founder and publisher of the newspaper that will feature poetry, essays and comments from the homeless and other issues.
