When a group of concerned residents created Boyle McCauley News almost 40 years ago, part of the mission of the newspaper was to highlight the positive aspects of living in the area. The reason was to try to counter the image of McCauley and Boyle Street presented in the mainstream media as a place of violence and crime. This remains one of the missions of the paper to this day: to present community news and events often missed by other media. Community problems are also dealt with in these pages, but usually from a solution-oriented approach rather than sensationalism.

With the history of the community and the mainstream media in mind, it was absolutely thrilling to read Elise Stolte’s feature in the Edmonton Journal on July 30 about business people in the area who are dealing with the issue of homelessness in unique and creative ways. People who are not acting on behalf of any organization or agency, but who are making an important difference.

A link to the story was posted on our social media as soon as possible, and it received a high number of likes and shared in proportion to the rest of our posts in the same time period.

The fact that many compassionate and caring people live and work in McCauley and Boyle Street is certainly not news to those who spend a lot of time here. Getting the “good news stories” about the inner city to the rest of Edmonton is the challenge. Thankfully, the rest of the city is starting to take notice.