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  • 2026

    Introducing… Speak Up Magazine!

    For a decade, Speak Up published a print magazine that gave voice to many dozens of writers facing homelessness. Here’s a great pre-Covid news story…

  • A space where overlooked people are heard

    Here’s a quote from today’s writing group: I love this class and look forward to it every week. [Everyone feels] so comfortable and therefore people…

  • Need shared. Need met.

    On Thursday, Qiana called me. She was facing a financial crisis and was hours away from ending up on the streets with her kids. I…

  • Community is Hard (and Possible)

    Speak Up writing groups hit on multiple levels. They provide individual invitations. These spaces let people discover and uncover things within. Carving out time to…

  • About Speak Up

    Write Together, Bridge DividesIn Speak Up writing groups, people come together across so-called impassable chasms—homeless versus non-homeless, this race versus that race, left versus right,…

  • We are writing to these prompts right now

    At this exact moment I’m sitting with others around a cluster of round tables writing to shared prompts. We’re sipping coffee, munching donuts, and holding…

  • Citadels of Pause and Presence: Speak Up Writing Groups

    We gathered, leaned in around tables with steaming cups of coffee, sticky donuts on paper plates, and a delightful collection of shared writing prompts. For…

  • Write with Speak Up This Week

    In Speak Up writing groups, we gather with a simple purpose. We write from shared prompts. We read aloud and honor each reader with our…

  • Write with Speak Up This Week

    After a holiday break, we’re back on a regular schedule of Speak Up writing groups. In those spaces, we gather with a simple purpose. We…

  • 2025

    Speak Up Weekly: Write and Share

    We’re three meetings in to the newest Speak Up writing community: in the Matthews Public Library in Matthews, NC. It is a particular delight to…

  • Speak Up Open Mic Next Week

    Join us next week for a Speak Up Open Mic Night in downtown Rock Hill, SC. The Speak Up community of workshop writers, old friends,…

  • Speak Up Weekly: Join, Attend, Write

    Donor Matching Giving Campaign UpdateOne of Speak Up’s donors is matching everything donated—up to $12,500—between November 24th and the end of the year. 12/5/25 UPDATE…

  • Speak Up Weekly: Join the Movement

    One month ago there was a single weekly Speak Up writing community. Now there are three! The first one began in April 2024 at the…

  • Speak Up Weekly: New Workshop Milestone. This Week’s Prompts.

    Another writing community launching this week! This week there are three Speak Up writing communities meeting in three different places. Two in Rock Hill, SC,…

  • Building a Successful Writing Community

    Speak Up writing workshops are simple gatherings where people from all walks of life gather in person, write together, and listen to one another read…

  • Printed Workshop Magazine

    We’re preparing to publish a printed anthology magazine of select writings from the Speak Up workshops. All current and former workshop writers are invited to…

  • 2024

    Correcting the terrible affliction of homelessness

    A new year is almost here! Here’s a year-end blessing Benjamin Franklin: Be at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let…

  • Writing Workshop

    Every week for the last five months I've been leading a writing group at the local public library. It was first advertised with posters in…

  • Speak Up on NPR

    I'm excited to share that South Carolina Public Radio, a local NPR affiliate, broadcast a story yesterday about a Speak Up writing workshop we facilitated…

  • 2023

    All About Pursuit Packs

    But if you only have 20 seconds, here's the short version: For two years we've been promoting and distributing "job in a box" outreach kits…

  • Letters to Speak Up

    We get mail from people facing homelessness. Letters come from folks who are incarcerated. They also send emails, leave voicemails, and drop notes on Facebook.…

  • 2021

    Sometimes They Just End

    Mike first showed up at Speak Up’s Charlotte office with two friends. They’d been living together in an abandoned house for a couple months. His…

  • Getting Started

    A few months ago we set out to create Pursuit Packs—portable starter kits that would allow anyone anywhere to begin earning income by selling magazine…

  • In desperate need of love

    I’ve had hundreds of personal encounters with people who are facing homelessness. Nearly every person who approaches us at Speak Up and reaches out to…

  • 2017

    Editor Letter March 2017

    My introduction to the world of homeless support services came in early 2010 when I volunteered to help with that year’s Vulnerability Index Survey—a counting…

  • 2016

    Glimpses and Snapshots

    Syrian refugees, street gangs in Chicago, the ex-Finance Minister of Greece…this issue is a bit different. Speak Up is a member of the International Network…

  • Second Chances

    A second chance came abruptly for Doug and Abby. They came into Charlotte a couple weeks ago, penniless and afraid. “I’ve never been homeless before,”…

  • Close Encounters (Three Kinds)

    As founder of Speak Up, I’ve had hundreds of personal encounters with people who have been on the streets. Nearly every person who approaches us…

  • 2015

    Speak Up Is…

    Speak Up is an opportunity for people on the streets to transform their lives. It is a chance to work and earn money instead of…

  • I Will Thrive

    I’ve been re-reading “Toxic Charity” by Bob Lupton. If you are reading Speak Up but haven’t read his book, get it now! He draws on…

  • Editor Letter June 2015

    For nearly three months at the weekly vendor meetings in Charlotte we have been reading through Og Mandino’s classic sales book, “The Greatest Salesman in…

  • Speak Up Vendors Bring Inspiration One Magazine at a Time

    There’s a good chance that you bought this magazine from a Speak Up vendor. The vendor who sold it to you is either homeless, vulnerably…

  • 2014

    Editor Letter June 2014

    I’m immensely impressed with and proud of this magazine you are holding. It represents hundreds of hours of planning, learning, photographing, recalibrating, interviewing, collaborating, editing…

  • A Pivot for Speak Up

    The publication of this little booklet in your hand is the most significant thing we’ve done since launching the first issue of the magazine over…

  • INSP-iring Change

    Speak Up’s co-founder Lana Shaw spent last week in Glasgow, Scotland, at the 20th Annual Meeting of the International Network of Street Papers (INSP). There…

  • Intersections, Relationships, Transformations

    This edition of Speak Up Zine is making my hair stand up. When Speak Up began three years ago, it was influenced by dozens of…

  • 2011

    Editor Letter June 2011

    Voices. As I survey the completed draft of this issue you’re about to read, it’s hard to pick a highlight because there are so many…