Addressing Clothing Insecurity for Children

To provide children from birth through age 12, living in homeless or low-income situations, with the essential items they need to thrive – at home, at school and at play.

Childhood poverty is a serious nationwide issue.

The average U.S. family in poverty, with two adults and two children, lives on less than $24,000 a year.

Consider these staggering statistics from the regions where Cradles to Crayons currently operates:More than 1 in 3 Massachusetts children, 12 years old and younger, live in low-income or homeless situations.According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Philadelphia has the highest poverty rate among the nation’s ten largest cities. 3 in 5 Philadelphian children live in poverty.1 in 2 children in Chicago live in low income and homeless situations.Without adequate and appropriate clothing, children face unfair barriers and participate in life on an unequal playing field. Across most of the United States, only three (food, housing, energy) of four basic needs are supported by government safety net programs. Cradles to Crayons uses the term “Clothing Insecurity” as part of our efforts to formally recognize the issue, and increase awareness on this hidden basic need.

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