Matt Shaw · September 15, 2026UpdatesIntroducing… 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 that captures the heart of the mission.…Matt Shaw · July 8, 2026UpdatesCommunity 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 pause and write can help…Matt Shaw · June 17, 2026UpdatesTimeless Treasure TroveWe are sitting on a gold mine. For a decade, Speak Up published a printed magazine that gave voice to people facing homelessness. That means hundreds of essays from dozens of writers. Their…Matt Shaw · March 23, 2026UpdatesCitadels of Pause and Presence: Speak Up Writing GroupsWe gathered, leaned in around tables with steaming cups of coffee, sticky donuts on paper plates, and a delightful collection of shared writing prompts. For ninety minutes, we wrote…Matt Shaw · January 5, 2026UpdatesWrite with Speak Up This WeekIn Speak Up writing groups, we gather with a simple purpose. We write from shared prompts. We read aloud and honor each reader with our attention and applause. So much happens from this…Matt Shaw · December 12, 2025UpdatesSpeak Up Weekly: Write and ShareWe’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 watch this new community grow and form. The…Matt Shaw · December 10, 2025UpdatesSpeak Up Open Mic Next WeekJoin us next week for a Speak Up Open Mic Night in downtown Rock Hill, SC. The Speak Up community of workshop writers, old friends, supporters, readers, and the general public are all…Matt Shaw · December 5, 2025UpdatesSpeak Up Weekly: Join, Attend, WriteOne 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 — $2,000 of $12,500 raised. Thank you to that matching…Matt Shaw · November 24, 2025UpdatesSpeak Up Weekly: Join the MovementWhere will it be?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 main library in downtown Rock Hill, SC.…Matt Shaw · November 18, 2025UpdatesSpeak 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, one in Matthews, NC. This is…Matt Shaw · November 12, 2025UpdatesBuilding a Successful Writing CommunitySpeak Up writing workshops are simple gatherings where people from all walks of life gather in person, write together, and listen to one another read their work aloud. Unhoused and housed…Matt Shaw · December 30, 2024UpdatesCorrecting the terrible affliction of homelessnessA 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 every new year find you a better [person]. For…Matt Shaw · December 5, 2024UpdatesThis Week's Homeless Writing Workshop PromptsWe don’t actually call it “homeless writing workshop” and no one has to reveal their housing status or self-label to participate. In fact, part of the beauty of this weekly group is that…Matt Shaw · September 12, 2024UpdatesWriting WorkshopEvery 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 the library: “Stories from the…Matt Shaw · March 30, 2024UpdatesSpeak Up on NPRGood Morning! 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 earlier this…Matt Shaw · May 31, 2023UpdatesAll About Pursuit PacksBut 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 called Pursuit Packs.…Matt Shaw · April 25, 2023UpdatesLetters to Speak UpWe get mail from people facing homelessness. Letters come from folks who are incarcerated. They also send emails, leave voicemails, and drop notes on Facebook. Those dispatches—however they…Matt Shaw · September 3, 2022UpdatesThis is RuthRuth joined Speak Up in 2012. Over the years, she’s sold thousands of magazines (she says “it feels like millions”), impacted hundreds of readers, made many dozens of friends, and spread…Matt Shaw · November 30, 2021UpdatesNot a bad person. Just invisible.Meet Amber. She is 31 and, like the sign reads, she is not a bad person. I saw her every night that I was in the French Quarter. She doesn't ask for help. She will talk when engaged…Matt Shaw · November 12, 2021UpdatesSometimes They Just EndMike 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 friends were sharp and mostly…Matt Shaw · September 16, 2021UpdatesThree Ways to ImpactThis update gives three ways to help give a voice to voiceless and opportunity for those in need. “Pursuit Packs” are simple kits to help people facing homelessness or poverty join Speak Up…Matt Shaw · August 31, 2021UpdatesTrue BelieverBy the time Doug met Speak Up, he had faced—and overcome—years of homelessness and drugs. His story was one of crippling darkness and humiliating rock bottom followed by dramatic redemption…Matt Shaw · March 17, 2021UpdatesGetting StartedA 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 and all-access digital subscriptions.…Matt Shaw · January 28, 2021UpdatesIn desperate need of loveI’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 participate in the writing and…Matt Shaw · March 2017UpdatesMy introduction to the world of homeless support services came in early…2010 when I volunteered to help with that year’s Vulner ability Index Survey—a counting of people living on the streets. I was assigned to assist on one of the “camp teams.” We went to…Matt Shaw · July 2016UpdatesGlimpses and SnapshotsSyrian 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 of Street Newspapers (INSP), a…Matt Shaw · 2016UpdatesSecond ChancesA 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,” she said. They slept on newspapers in…Matt Shaw · February 2016UpdatesClose 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 and reaches out to participate in the…Matt Shaw · December 2015UpdatesSpeak 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 begging for it. It is an invitation to replace a mindset of…Matt Shaw · October 2015UpdatesI Will ThriveI’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 four decades of experience as a worker among impoverished…Matt Shaw · 2015UpdatesFor 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 the World.” Published in 1968, it sold millions of copies and continues to win devotees today. The book…Matt Shaw · 2015UpdatesSpeak Up Vendors Bring Inspiration One Magazine at a TimeDear Friends, 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 housed, or recently homeless. Right…Matt Shaw · 2014UpdatesI’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 and design. It wasn’t created by professionals or even by the…Matt Shaw · 2014UpdatesA Pivot for Speak UpThe 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 two years ago. You may have read Speak Up…Matt Shaw · 2014UpdatesINSP-iring ChangeSpeak 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 are over 100 street papers and…Matt Shaw · 2014UpdatesIntersections, Relationships, TransformationsThis edition of Speak Up Zine is making my hair stand up. When Speak Up began three years ago, it was influenced by dozens of other street papers and magazines around the world—like them…Matt Shaw · 2011UpdatesVoices. 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 diverse voices within. Like previous issues, this magazine captures the stories, struggles and hope of a variety of…