Street Pulse, Madison’s homeless cooperative newspaper, has amplified the voice of the marginalized as their publication grows exponentially year after year.

Since Street Pulse opened in November 2007, it has grown from selling 300 papers each month to 6,000 each month, Robert Huffar, Street Pulse vendor coordinator and vendor, said.

Street Pulse has two main goals, David Hilgendorf, director of Street Pulse, said.

“One is to give people who are marginalized and other people who are homeless or have been homeless some source of income,” Hilgendorf said. “The other one is to break a lot of the stereotypes of homelessness up, and to give a voice to the people who have been pushed to the fringes of society, and make them aware of what is going on.”

In the past month, Street Pulse jumped from selling 5,000 a month to 6,000 a month, Huffar said.

The paper has increasingly received more recognition since its start, Hilgendorf said.

“The more we sell each month, the more people are reading it and talking to other people about it, so I think it is a bit of a natural growth,” he said.

Street Pulse made design changes to the paper about a year ago and as they continue to make it more professional, people will take it more seriously, Hilgendorf said.

The objective is to make people aware of what Street Pulse is so people who buy it one month will continue to buy it in the following months, Hilgendorf said. Street Pulse has also been working toward expanding outreach and sales by speaking to classes on campus, he said.

Because Street Pulse is a non-profit organization, Hilgendorf said recruiting volunteers is one of their biggest challenges. More volunteers with journalism experience are needed in order to consistently produce a quality paper, he said.

The opportunity to write articles for the public helps the homeless and marginalized to communicate the problems they face each day, Huffar said. It is also helpful in educating the public about where they can donate items such as bedding, clothing and food.

“For the people who are homeless or marginalized, it is spreading word out there and people will understand what is going on,” Huffar said.

The more Street Pulse can make people aware about the issue of homelessness in Madison, the easier it will be to battle stereotypes, Hilgendorf said.

There are many vendors who have escaped homelessness through their income with Street Pulse, he said.

“Getting people to look at the homeless as people, not just people who are lazy and don’t want to get a job, it is way more complicated than that,” Hilgendorf said. “Little by little, trying to do that, to engage the community and people who can make a change, with politics, with money, that is what [Street Pulse] is trying to do. To get people in the community to engage.”