{"id":28198,"date":"2016-05-23T11:54:38","date_gmt":"2016-05-23T15:54:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?p=28198"},"modified":"2016-11-10T10:54:47","modified_gmt":"2016-11-10T15:54:47","slug":"street-sense-editorial-intern-helps-provide-a-voice-for-the-homeless-in-washington-d-c","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2016\/street-sense-editorial-intern-helps-provide-a-voice-for-the-homeless-in-washington-d-c\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Street Sense’ editorial intern helps provide a voice for the homeless in Washington D.C."},"content":{"rendered":"

Homelessness wasn\u2019t something Abby Hershberger was familiar with while growing up in Millersburg, Ohio, a town of about 3,500 residents.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt didn’t happen to people I knew,\u201d she says. \u201cIt didn’t happen to my friends or family. I just wasn’t exposed to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

During a spring semester at Eastern Mennonite University’s Washington Community Scholars\u2019 Center<\/a>, Hershberger contributed to a unique initiative that amplifies the voices of homeless people and the issues that affect them. It\u2019s a reality of life in the metropolitan D.C. area \u201cthat I would never experience as a tourist,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Hershberger, a history major says she \u201cloves writing,\u201d was an editorial intern at the urban newspaper \u201cStreet Sense<\/a>,\u201d which combines the talents of staff, volunteers, and homeless writers and vendors to provide a voice for the impoverished of Washington D.C.<\/p>\n

The mission of the \u201cbiweekly street paper\u201d is \u201cto offer economic opportunities for people experiencing homelessness in our community by elevating voices and encouraging debate on poverty and injustice,\u201d according to Street Sense’s website.<\/p>\n

\"Washington<\/a>
Washington Community Scholars’ Center spring semester participants, faculty and staff: back row (left to right): Sara Shenk Moreno, Stephanie Anders, Elsa Miller, Professor Deanna Durham, Assistant Director Kelsey Kauffman, Abby Hershberger, Nathaniel McKnight. Front row: Assistant Director of Communications Erica Grasse, Rosemary Joss, Natasha Bridge, Dani Driver, Joshua Boos (Bluffton), Brendaly Nieves Santiago, Lauren Smith (Bluffton). (Photo by Andrew Strack)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

About 100 active vendors from among the homeless population of Washington D.C. sell 16,000 papers every other week, with the average vendor earning $45 a day. There are five paid staff and a team of artists-in-residence, volunteers, interns, and homeless contributors.<\/p>\n

Phone interviews, council and neighborhood meetings, editing, research, and writing comprised her days: \u201cI get to do a little bit of everything,\u201d Hershberger said.<\/p>\n

To gain a sense of Hershberger\u2019s recent assignments, check out the following links:<\/p>\n