3 Pages Case Study (7 SubPoints) the Q&A to a manger is done by me so

Q&A

1.   Basic biographical information and information about the organizational affiliation. Cradles to Crayons started in 2002 in Boston Massachusetts. In 2006 we opened our second location in Philadelphia, and in 2016 the Chicago location was opened. Below please see our mission and vision.

           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.

           

           Our Vision: One day every child will have the essentials they need to feel                   safe, warm, ready to learn, and valued.

 

2.   Brief history of you worked to address the social issue at hand. Although we collect many different items for children, our prime focus in clothing insecurity and educating the public on what clothing insecurity means. All of our clothing comes through donations. We do purchase certain products that must be new for example (diapers and hygiene products) but we do not purchase clothing. Many corporate and community groups hold clothing drives for us. Anyone can donate clothing at one of our 50 plus drop off locations.

3.     What successes or changes you have seen? I have only worked at Cradles to Crayons for about a year now, but I know we had a tremendous increase in requested items in our busiest season (October-December). In 2018 our average or requests for KidPacks was 500 per a week, in 2019 it was close to 1000.

4.     What pressing problems are you still facing? With the increase demand, we have seen an increase of volunteers and product but not to what our demand is. During the busy season, we ran out of clothing and some other essential items that we do not normally run out of throughout the rest of the year. We have not been able to fully support the demand operationally.

5.    What other individuals or organizations have you partnered with in change efforts? We have over 50 different partner organizations. Below are a few that we partner with. Please let me know if you need the full list:

· I Grow Chicago

· Heartland Alliance

· Metropolitan Family Services

· LIFT

· Youth Guidance

· Carole Roberston

· Las Casa Norte

· Trina Davila

· Family Focus

· ChildServ

· New Moms

· 6.    What suggestions would you have for college students interested in having an impact on the issue?

I would say educate yourself as much as you can on issues in your local community, see what interests you the most and make and impact.

7.     How do you define leadership? Service?  Leadership- Leading a group of people for the right reasons not the popular or most liked reasons. Service- Putting other’s needs before your own.

8.     What other resources (organizations, web sites, readings) do you recommend? My suggestions would be Google search specific non-profits or organizations that you are looking to learn more about. Chicago.gov is also a good place to search.

9.     What kind of strategy does the organization and you as per your decisions have? Due to the current situation, we are trying to serve as many kids as possible. With that being said, we have had to adjust our model for the time being and only distribute in bulk and new products. The organization is also looking at a pilot program where we connect families who have items that others are looking for. We are at the very beginning stages of this program, but we are hoping to serve kids who are geographically further away than Chicago.