Matt Ryno returned to Marquette after spending a semester in Washington, D.C., with inspiration.

The College of Communication junior spent the fall semester in the nation's capital working with Michael Stoops, the acting executive director for the Washington, D.C.-based National Coalition for the Homeless. Now, he's trying to bring what he learned in the nation's capitol to Milwaukee with the launch of the Urban Initiative, a new organization that will publish a "street newspaper" to raise funds for the homeless population.

The Urban Initiative, Ryno told an estimated 20 students at the group's first meeting Friday, is a group dedicated to getting Marquette students more involved with the Milwaukee community, particularly the poor and homeless of the city. The main focus of the group will be a monthly newspaper, which has yet to be titled, staffed entirely by unpaid Marquette students, according to Ryno. The newspaper will be produced in the "street newspaper" style, which is common in many urban areas and aims to bring the public and the poor of the community together.

He said one idea is having both students and impoverished members of the community sell the newspaper.

"I think the distribution by some community members facing poverty will bring the reality of the surrounding community to campus, especially if some members of this campus are not familiar with the issues in the local community," Ryno said in a recent press release. "Poverty is a major issue in the local community. Students will see people working to better their lives and spread community news. I can think of no better way to introduce our paper to students."

Ryno said he feels that other types of student media at Marquette are limited and that a street newspaper would help students and community members learn things about the community they might not hear about otherwise.

"Every person in the community has a story to tell, which sometimes does not get heard," said Ryno in the press release. "We also want to be a forum where people from the entire community — Marquette included — can discuss current urban issues together."

The newspaper will be the latest entry in the recent flourishing alternative media that has seen the rise of The Warrior, an alternative newspaper, and several student- and faculty-run blogs.

Ryno said he plans to charge a small amount for the paper (maybe a quarter) and donate part of the profits to a charitiable organization yet to be determined. Ryno hopes that MUSG will supply the funding for the paper from the student activity fee, but if not he plans to pay for the first two issues with the John and Leo Cadia scholarship money he recieved from teh College of Communication when his advisers noticed how much work he was putting into the paper. Ryno first applied for a grant from the school to pay for funding and it was turned down. Since then the proposal has been redrafted and will again be reconsidered by university faculty members.

The idea of a street newspaper is new to Marquette — Ryno said this will be the first newspaper of its kind on campus — but it is also relatively new to colleges in general. The first collegiate street newspaper was started at Gonzaga University in 2001, according to the press release. The Urban Initiative will use Gonzaga's paper as a model, Ryno said.

While Ryno has big plans for the Urban Initiative project, he says he is open to new ideas. He is looking for help from students interested in working with page layout, design and the Internet as well as students who want to be reporters and editors. Ryno said he hopes to begin working on the newspaper this summer so he is prepared for production in the fall.

So far, students' reactions to Ryno's ideas have been positive.

Liz Shirek, a freshman in the College of Communication, said she thinks the Urban Initiative is a good idea.

"I think most people that go to Marquette are from suburbs and haven't been surrounded by the issues of a larger city," she said.

However Shirek is not sure if students will actually be willing to purchase the paper.

"I'm not sure a majority of the student body will be willing to pay," she said.

Katie Kunitz, a freshman in the College of Arts & Sciences, agreed, but said she also felt that the school would benefit from such a publication.

"I think Marquette should get more involved with the Milwaukee community at large," she said.