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 305,000 Massachusetts children, 12 years old and younger, live in low-income or poverty-stricken households. In any given year, more than 100,000 of them will experience homelessness.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Philadelphia has the highest poverty rate among the nation’s ten largest cities. Nearly one in four Philadelphians, including 130,000 children, live in poverty.

Approximately 200,000 children in Chicago live in poverty – that’s one in three children.

The kids we help don’t have shoes that fit. Or a coat warm enough to fend off winter winds. Or a backpack to carry their schoolbooks and supplies. Without these basics, they suffer. They don’t want to go to school. They have a hard time learning in school. They don’t go outside to play. They don’t feel valued.

Our Mission: Cradles to Crayons provides 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. We supply these items free of charge by engaging and connecting communities that have with communities that need.