EDITOR’S NOTE ON MARCH 9, temperatures in ELISABETH MONAGHAN MANAGING EDITOR Denver ranged from a low of 7 degrees to a high of only 23. When the City of Denver conducted a sweep of a homeless encampment that morning, one Denver VOICE contributor commented on Twitter about the cruelty of conducting sweeps without offering shelter to those who were displaced or telling folks where (or if) they could find their belongings. In response, several people commented that they agreed, but there also were comments that took exception to our contributor’s tweet. One person wrote, “Good.” Another accused the contributor of being “fake news,” while another said the number of individuals experiencing homelessness in Denver was actually 6,000, not the12,000 total our contributor mentioned. Regardless of whether there are 12,000, 6,000, or 600 people in Denver experiencing homelessness, these are people sleeping on the streets. Maybe some of them are junkies or drunks who “have chosen to be homeless.” That certainly makes it OK for the City to clear out these encampments, right? According to the National Institute of Mental Health, about 26% of Americans ages 18 and older suffer from a diagnosable mental disorder in a given year. Granted, not all of those with mental health issues are addicts or end up on the streets, but what if one out of every four individuals experiencing homelessness suffers from a mental disorder? How helpful is it to those individuals to be swept — especially when many of them will simply relocate to a different camp down the road? I’ve said before that homelessness is ugly. But no matter how much pushback we get from others, and regardless of whether anyone considers it “fake news,” those of us who make up the Denver VOICE will continue to point it out when we or members of our broader community forget that regardless of where people sleep, they are our fellow human beings, and they deserve to be treated with dignity. ■ DENVERVOICE.ORG CE.ORG @deeOCE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Jennifer Seybold MANAGING EDITOR Elisabeth Monaghan PROGRAM COORDINATOR Anthony Cornejo GRAPHIC DESIGNER Hannah Bragg APRIL CONTRIBUTOR ROBERT DAVIS is an award-winning freelance reporter for the Denver VOICE. His work has appeared in Invisible People, The Progressive, Yellow Scene Magazine, Motley Fool, and Medium.com WHAT WE DO The Denver VOICE empowers homeless, impoverished, and transient individuals by creating job opportunities through our vendor program. We give our vendors a job and help them tell their stories; this creates a space for them to be part of a community again. Vendors purchase copies of the VOICE for 50 cents each at our distribution center. This money pays for a portion of our production costs. Vendors can buy as many papers as they want; they then sell those papers to the public for a suggested $2 donation. The difference in cost ($1.50) is theirs to keep. WHO WE ARE The Denver VOICE is a nonprofit that publishes a monthly street newspaper. Our vendors are men and women in the Denver metro area experiencing homelessness and poverty. Since 2007, we have put more than 4,600 vendors to work. Our mission is to facilitate a dialogue addressing the roots of homelessness by telling stories of people whose lives are impacted by poverty and homelessness and to offer economic, educational, and empowerment opportunities for the impoverished community. We are an award-winning publication, a member of the International Network of Street Papers and the Colorado Press Association, and we abide by the Society of Professional Journalists code of ethics. With the money they make selling the VOICE, vendors are able to pay for their basic needs. Our program provides vendors with an immediate income and a support group of dedicated staff members and volunteers. Vendors are independent contractors who receive no base pay. EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT editor@denvervoice.org VENDOR PROGRAM program@denvervoice.org • (720) 320-2155 ADVERTISING ads@denvervoice.org MAILING ADDRESS PO Box 1931, Denver CO 80201 VENDOR OFFICE 989 Santa Fe Drive, Denver, CO 80204 OFFICE HOURS: Monday through Friday, from 9 a.m. until 12 p.m. Orientation is held every day we are open, but prospective vendors must arrive by 10:00 a.m. VOLUNTEER COPY EDITORS Ashton Brown Kersten Jaeger Aaron Sullivan Laura Wing PHOTOGRAPHERS/ILLUSTRATORS Gigi Galen WRITERS Lando Allen Zakkayah Brooks Rea Brown Frances Ford Raelene Johnson Queene Jerry Rosen BOARD OF DIRECTORS Nikki Lawson, President Chris Boulanger, Vice President Jeff Cuneo, Treasurer Zephyr Wilkins, Secretary Donovan Cordova Raelene Johnson Julia Watson Cabal Yarne 2 DENVER VOICE April 2022 STAFF CONTRIBUTORS BOARD CONTACT US
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