'Sesame Street' Muppet will show what homelessness is like from a child's perspective

(KATU News) - “Sesame Street” is adding a Muppet to the neighborhood. Wednesday, Sesame Workshop, the non-profit educational organization behind “Sesame Street,” announced they will have a character who is experiencing homelessness.

In a release, the non-profit says 7-year-old Lily is a Muppet whose family is staying with friends on Sesame Street after losing their home.

Lily was first introduced on Sesame Street in 2011 when her family was struggling with hunger.

“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,” Sherrie Westin, president of global impact and philanthropy at Sesame Workshop, said in a release.

The non-profit says more than 2.5 million children are experiencing homelessness across the U.S. and nearly half of those children are under the age of six.

Lily will be featured in new videos, storybooks and interactive activities for families with children ages 2 to 6.

Sesame Workshop says resources featuring Lily and her friends are designed to show what it’s like to be homeless from a child’s perspective.