MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (WMOT) -- The Contributor, the mid-state newspaper produced and distributed by the homeless, appears to be out of immediate danger of closing.
Last month the paper’s founder, Tasha French, announced that financial problems might result in the paper closing. She warned that the September issue might be the last.
Speaking to WMOT News Tuesday morning, French said recent contributions from individual and corporate sponsors have lifted the newspaper out of immediate danger of closing.
French notes that the paper is partially self-sustaining.
“Our newspaper vendors that you see, the face of our organization, they purchase those papers from us for 25 cents each up front. That covers 50 percent of our yearly budget, and that’s unusual for a non-profit. So we’re a social enterprise in the truest sense.”
The Contributor is now the largest newspaper of its kind, with a circulation of well-over 100,000 copies sold monthly. French says the next issue will be out September 18th.