05/02/2015
After 13 years and 2 months of publishing Whats Up Magazine, I am finally passing the torch.
Over 800 men, women and youth employed. Over 700,000 copies sold. Nearly $500,000 raised through street sales of our publication from the haves to the have-nots.
It all started with an inspiration from Aaron Goldstein doing the same thing in Boston in 2000. Encouragement from Michael Stoops, Tim Harris and was reinforced by the INSP and street papers around the world. What was still a young idea has become a global movement.
What Up Magazine and the Homeless Empowerment Project grew in St. Louis with early support from Stern Summer Service Grant Washington University in St. Louis, Raju Mukhi, Tyler Ellsworth, Seema Mukhi, Abby Dumes, RJ Koscielniak, Annie Wentz, Ryan Albritton, David Johns, Vladimir Noskov, Ben Chia, Tony Catalano, Chris Buehler, Amber Isak, Caleb & Lisa Goldkamp, Stephanie Linn, Bill Siedhoff, Ben & Jerry's Foundation, Bottoms Up Blues Gang, Tom Burnham, Sarah McCabe, Raj & Mary Sandhu and many, many others and is responsible for just about every aspect of my life I can recall.
Along the way we've lost Keith, Carl, Kelvin and others to illness and violence but thankfully the mission will live on. However, for now, and for the best future, I need to step away and allow other's energy and passion for social justice, empowerment and awareness of poverty and homelessness to grow the organization.
Thanks to the leadership of Doug Coaston, a formerly homeless Marine veteran who sold StreetWise in Chicago for years and Tarun Yandamuri (SLU), Whats Up will live on comforting the disturbed and disturbing the comfortable.
It's been a ride and an incredible journey. I'm thankful for everyone along the way who has made a difference, bought a magazine, had a real conversation with a person experiencing homelessness or fought for the preservation of affordable housing, mental health services and transition support from incarceration.
Please do whatever you can to keep this important voice for the marginalized in our community alive.
Thank you all so much for this opportunity to serve and make a difference in a way I knew I could.
Wake up. Poverty isn't something to become indifferent to.
I'll leave with a quote that was one shared with me and continue to support the organization in whatever way I possibly can but Doug and Tarun will need your support and encouragement.
"There’s a trick to the 'graceful exit.' It begins with the vision to recognize when a job, a life stage, or a relationship is over — and let it go. It means leaving what’s over without denying its validity or its past importance to our lives. It involves a sense of future, a belief that every exit line is an entry, that we are moving up, rather than out."
- Ellen Goodman
Keep fighting for justice and open your hearts to compassion.
Until next time...
Jemal "Jay" Swoboda, Founder
Whats Up Magazine
http://www.whatsupstl.com
