Through the homeless service agency that produces Street Beat, Ward helped with the late-October launch of a magazine, StreetVoice. About 50 street newspapers are published in the United States. The granddaddy of the modern era is Street News, which started in New York in 1989 and inspired knockoffs such as Street Sheet in San Francisco and Spare Change in Boston. It claims a circulation of about 1,000, but a readership that includes poet Maya Angelou and author Norman Mailer. Street Beat's modest success prompted StreetVoice, with its national news and feature articles, including those on child-rearing and health issues affecting the homeless.
Street newspapers claim two camps.
Most are by, for and about the homeless and, as a result, are much rougher around the edges. Deadlines are not exact. Employees, some paid, some not, come and go. But the new breed, best represented by The Big Issue, is glossy and full of general-interest articles. Homeless people sell and profit from The Big Issue but provide only token editorial input.