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You can now buy the street newspaper Real Change with an app

Screen Shot 2015-04-16 at 11.34.39 AMNo cash? No problem. That’s what vendors of the weekly newspaper Real Change are saying after the publication introduced an app on Thursday that allows readers to purchase a digital copy of the paper.

For $2.99, readers can purchase the digital publication by scanning a QR code connected to a credit card. The publication’s homeless and low income vendors will each carry a badge with an individualized QR code. Paper copies will still be available for $2.

The app was started by a Google employee who volunteered with Real Change two years ago, according to newspaper. The project was then developed by eight volunteer Google employees.

“Cashlessness is a challenge our vendors face on a daily basis,” said Real Change director Timothy Harris in a statement. “This app will help our paper survive in the digital age, when fewer people have ready access to cash and more people prefer to read news content on their mobile devices.”

Real Change and Google announced the app during a Thursday media conference in Occidental Park. Google envisions that app spreading to street newspapers in other cities, a company spokesperson said in a statement.

Real Change covers local social and economic justice issues while providing employment opportunities for its homeless vendors, including many familiar faces along Capitol Hill’s busiest corridors. Find out more at realchangenews.org

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