The newest Sesame Street resident is 7 years old and homeless

Posted in Entertainment and Technology.
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There’s a new family on Sesame Street.

Lily, 7, and her family have a unique story – because they’re homeless.

“We don’t have our own apartment anymore and we’ve been staying in all different kind of places,” Lily tells the human character Sophia from the Sesame Street community centre.

Help for families tackling difficult issues

Lily’s character was created as part of the Sesame Workshop’s Sesame Street in Communities initiative.

These segments don’t appear on the television version of the show, they’re on Sesame Street’s YouTube page; part of a whole series of resources for families tackling difficult issues.

Lily is a pink muppet with fabulous multicoloured braids whose favourite colour is purple. 


Read more on Sesame Street: 


America’s homelessness crisis 

But for all the brightness, Lily’s character reflects the truly galling scale of homelessness in America.

According to The Sydney Morning Herald, more than 2.5 million children experience homelessness, and more than 1.2 million are under the age of 6.

“We know children experiencing homelessness are often caught up in a devastating cycle of trauma — the lack of affordable housing, poverty, domestic violence, or other trauma that caused them to lose their home, the trauma of actually losing their home, and the daily trauma of the uncertainty and insecurity of being homeless,” said Sherrie Westin, president of global impact and philanthropy at Sesame Workshop.

“We want to help disrupt that cycle by comforting children, empowering them, and giving them hope for the future. We want them to know that they are not alone and home is more than a house or an apartment — home is wherever the love lives.”

What a beautiful message for our kids to absorb.

Great work, Sesame Street.

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