Dec. 12 (UPI) -- Sesame Workshop, the non-profit educational organization behind Sesame Street, has announced a new initiative to tackle homelessness using the character of Lily.
The initiative involves offering children and parents access to videos, storybooks and interactive activities on the Sesame Street in Communities website that feature Lily.
The activities are designed to help mitigate the impact of the trauma and stigma surrounding homelessness.
Lily, a 7-year-old Muppet who originally appeared in 2011, is being re-introduced on Sesame Street and will be featured having a family who is staying with friends on Sesame Street following the lost of their home.
"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," president of global impact and philanthropy at Sesame Workshop Sherrie Westin said in a statement.
"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," she continued.
