Sesame Street introduces first homeless Muppet

I was just on Bing not too long ago and happened to stumble upon this:

'Now we don't have our own place to live': 'Sesame Street' introduces first homeless character

Lily, the hot pink puppet with red hair, is the first character to be homeless on "Sesame Street."

She was first introduced to the series in 2011 where she explained that her family was experiencing food insecurity -- they didn't have enough to eat.

In new online clips, the seven-year-old character explains that she is staying with friends on "Sesame Street" because her family has lost their home.

"Now we don't have our own place to live, and sometimes I wonder if we'll ever have our own home," Lily expressed to Elmo.

Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit organization behind "Sesame Street," is reintroducing Lily as the first homeless character on the show in order to provide hope for those children that are currently without a home of their own. The story line was created as a new initiative, and part of the Sesame Street in Communities program, to alleviate the stigma around homelessness.

In the videos, Lily is also shown to be supported by Elmo who tells her "we got this" and that her friends will always be there for her.

Sesame Street in Communities has also provided resources for parents and caregivers with free, bilingual resources and activities and suggestions that help mitigate the effects of homelessness in children. There are videos that show Lily being loved by her friends Elmo and Sofia and others that show other kids who don't have homes sharing what the idea of "home" means to them.

One in 20 children younger than 6 years old in the United States experienced homelessness, according to a 2017 release of a 2014-15 report by the Administration for Children and Families, a division of the Department of Health & Human Services.

“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 in a press release. “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.”

https://www.usatoday.com/story/life...treet-addresses-homelessness-lily/2287252002/

 

[chunkygoth]

Wait, is she homeless-homeless or does she live at a friend's house? I know a few people, from middle class or even well-to-do families, who had to take in their young nephew or else their son's best friend for a while. When I was growing up, we had family friends (mother/son) who fell on hard times and came to live with us for a bit. I mean it wasn't for a long time, it was about two weeks that turned into four. It was fine until they got over their brief period of economic stress and then we couldn't get the mom to leave our house* I don't understand why they're making this a long term muppet. Even if you're a little kid living apart from your family because your mom is going through rehab or whatever, wouldn't you want the story arc to end so you could go back?


*She finally left after my little brother concussed himself on the icy sidewalk. He was complaining that he couldn't see to her and she thought he was being overdramatic.

slight powerlevel: The one thing that's still stuck in my mind many years after staying in the US was the sheer number of genuine homeless people. Now sitting here and writing this I try to remember the last time I saw a homeless person in my country and I am drawing a blank. There's a guy living at the train station, but he's more of a beggar, judging from his clean and well kept clothes and stuff he has I'm sure he has a home, however tiny it might be. Also you never see him in the winter months.

Genuine question: does your country have insane asylums?

 

[HY 140]

so when do we get a downie muppet

 

[AmpleApricots]

so when do we get a downie muppet

Never, downs got pretty rare since it can be discovered really early and people almost always opt for abortion. Never noticed how you see significantly fewer these days?

Genuine question: does your country have insane asylums?

Yes, and also healthcare for pretty much everyone, including the unemployed. I think I know what you are implying.

 

[Jewelsmakerguy]

so when do we get a downie muppet

I'm just wondering when we'll get a schizophrenic muppet

 

[chunkygoth]

Yes, and also healthcare for pretty much everyone, including the unemployed. I think I know what you are implying.

The US does have a bad homeless problem and it's exacerbated by the lack of mental institutes and we have a pretty big drug problem. In places like California it might also be caused by lower income people getting priced out of their homes. I don't quite know the specifics of the situation here. I think the US still has mental health institutions but I don't think we have as many as we did before the 1970s. So there are a lot of people who are mentally disturbed and or have personality disorders in the streets. Also, a lot of homeless here are addicted heavily to drugs. And there are some people who just want to be homeless, like crustpunks or the vegan panhandlers you see in Portland, but tbh I think those guys are in the beginning phases of a terrible drug addiction.

 

[RP 520]

The US does have a bad homeless problem and it's exacerbated by the lack of mental institutes and we have a pretty big drug problem. In places like California it might also be caused by lower income people getting priced out of their homes. I don't quite know the specifics of the situation here. I think the US still has mental health institutions but I don't think we have as many as we did before the 1970s. So there are a lot of people who are mentally disturbed and or have personality disorders in the streets. Also, a lot of homeless here are addicted heavily to drugs. And there are some people who just want to be homeless, like crustpunks or the vegan panhandlers you see in Portland, but tbh I think those guys are in the beginning phases of a terrible drug addiction.

A lot of it does have to do with the lack of US mental institutions. Mental institutions in the U.S. have a stigma due to rampant abuses by staff uncovered at many of them through out the 1970's-1990's (sexual abuse, torture, neglect, unsanitary or unsafe conditions, neglecting building maintenance issues) which is what led to a lot of them being shut down.

 

[Bussy Catalog]

Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit organization behind "Sesame Street," is reintroducing Lily as the first homeless character on the show in order to provide hope for those children that are currently without a home of their own. The story line was created as a new initiative, and part of the Sesame Street in Communities program, to alleviate the stigma around homelessness.

T H E S T I G M A

That word is rapidly overtaking any -ist or -ism as the one I would most like to see removed from the English language.

 

[Mrs Paul]

Isn't that kind of messed up, if you think about it? Here you have this neighborhood full of people who are always willing to help each other out, and there's this kid who doesn't have a home --- surely they're not going to make her stay homeless? It's like, "oh hey, here's the little bum, we all live in nice places, and we drove all over creation when Big Bird but oh well, sucks to be you!"

(As for the autistic muppet, that didn't bother me quite so much, since Sesame Street has always had disabled characters, like Linda? Is she still on the show?)

 

[RodgerDodger]

You just know that the Homeless Pink Mupoet was “assigned male” at birth and has a “deadname”. It also carries a knife and has killed a man for no reason.

 

[Otis Boi]

Also, how exactly are homeless kids getting access to television to watch homeless Muppets when TV isn't a rabbit-ear signal anymore & requires a service provider?

I belive local channels have to broadcast in a digital signal and those can be tuned in on by digital tuners sold at walmart

 

[BradyBunchFan]

Wait, is she homeless-homeless or does she live at a friend's house? I know a few people, from middle class or even well-to-do families, who had to take in their young nephew or else their son's best friend for a while. When I was growing up, we had family friends (mother/son) who fell on hard times and came to live with us for a bit. I mean it wasn't for a long time, it was about two weeks that turned into four. It was fine until they got over their brief period of economic stress and then we couldn't get the mom to leave our house* I don't understand why they're making this a long term muppet. Even if you're a little kid living apart from your family because your mom is going through rehab or whatever, wouldn't you want the story arc to end so you could go back?


*She finally left after my little brother concussed himself on the icy sidewalk. He was complaining that he couldn't see to her and she thought he was being overdramatic.



Genuine question: does your country have insane asylums?

I believe she is homeless-homeless.

 

[Cheerlead-in-Chief]

They also had a black muppet that acted "too white"
Maybe wigger puppet to make amends?

 

[Plunkie]

They also had a black muppet that acted "too white"
Maybe wigger puppet to make amends?

Juggalo muppet. Make it fucking happen

 

[scathefire]

I'm gonna go full :autism:. I remember where I saw Oscar's full can. In Elmo's Adventures in Grouchland, he falls into Oscar's can that leads him into Grouchland, and its interior looks like this:View attachment 613268

Living in a trashcan that’s actually huge inside that also contains a fucking portal to the garbage dimension is a pretty sweet deal if you’re technically homeless.

 

[DICKPICSRUS]

Doesn't living in a trash can count as homeless?

Having a trash can lid counts as a roof.

Would a cardboard box count

 

[Jeb-sama]

Illegal alien muppet when?

so when do we get a downie muppet

Patience.

Those are next in line after bug chaser muppet, and street shitting muppet

 

[ToroidalBoat]

It's amazing the show is still running after 4481 episodes.

 

[Y2K Baby]

Can we please get some sexy Muppets again now.

 

[Ruin]

They should bring back the ill conceived HIV positive puppet they briefly introduced in the 80's.

 

[Dysnomia]

But Lily's not on the streets. She's staying with friends. She's not exactly homeless. I guess my idea of homeless if sleeping outside or in an abandoned building. She has a place to live. They need to go the full monty and have Lily hanging out on the streets wearing a potato sack and begging for change.