• New Story is a nonprofit organization building homes all over the world for families who don’t have a safe place to live. And they do it in fun and kind ways.

  • To learn more about or support New Story directly, we encourage you to click the link below!

Videos to Watch

Educational Guides

Homeless Parents and Children Discuss What it Feels Like to be HomelessA short, 3-minute film featuring interviews with families discussing their experiences with homelessness (The National Alliance to End Homelessness Youtube Channel)

Stories from Boston's Homeless Youth A short, 3-minute film featuring interviews with two homeless young women living in Harvard Square Y2Y Youth Homeless Shelter (The Harvard Crimson Youtube Channel)

Meet The Makers: Michael — Interviews with employees at the Giving Keys, an organization that aims to provide jobs to people transitioning out of homelessness in LA (The Giving Keys Youtube)

'Sesame Street' Muppet is Teaching Kids About Homelessness — A Today Show news feature interviewing Sesame Street makers on why they're addressing homelessness (The Today Show)

A School Made for Homeless Children — Freethink provides a brief look at Positive Tomorrow, a new school that takes a wholistic approach at providing education and care for children experiencing homelessness (Freethink Youtube) *Mentions Drug Addition

Boy Brings 'Blessing Bags' to Help Fight Homelessness — An interview with Jahkil Naeem Jackson about the 'blessing bags' he began giving to people in need when he was just 8 years old (NowThis Kids)

TEDx: How Education Can End Homelessness — Tracy Sharp, Executive Director of non-profit Saranam, discusses the important role education plays in breaking poverty cycles and combatting homelessness. Saranam provides homeless families in central New Mexico with housing, education, and community (TEDx Talks)

A 14-Year-Old's View of "Hidden Homelessness" | Growing Up Poor in America — This video shows the first hand experience of two teenage girls living without secure housing and how it affects their day-to-day lives (Frontline)

New Story + ICON + Échale | “3D Printed Housing for Those Who Need It Most — From our selected nonprofit for the housing box, a look at a partnership between ICON and New Story to harness 3D printing technology to create housing (New Story)

Educational Guides

A Kid’s Guide to Hunger & Homelessness — A 50-page printable guide published by Free Spirit Publishing which provides kids with service learning ideas and educational information on combatting hunger and homelessness. This guide is designed for 6th grade level students (Free Spirit Publishing)

Unsheltered Lives — A free 75-page printable educational activity book aimed at helping kids K-12 understand homelessness. This resource provides a variety of activities for each age group below Grade 12 (Alex Messinger)

Homeless Education Online Lesson Plans— Published by the Illinois State Board of Education, this three page resource provides a list of publications to help support interested families and students in learning about homelessness (Illinois State Board of Education)

A Day in the Life of a Homeless Person — A lesson from Learning To Give for grades 3, 4, and 5 on the topic of homelessness, by exploring a day in the life of a homeless person and offers students a different point of view. It aims to demonstrate the importance of social justice and encourage students to adopt values and actions that help other people (Leaning to Give)

Homelessness Fact Sheet — A 4-page printable fact sheet for kids learning about homelessness. This factsheet is designed for students K-2 (National Coalition for the Homeless)

Crayola "Erase Homelessness" — For Grades 4-6, this printable worksheets ask students to reflection questions related to the topic of homelessness in their area. Printable (Crayola)

Homelessness and Hunger — For Grades K, 1 & 2, this lesson plan explores the issue of hunger and homelessness by focusing on a single narrative (LearningtoAct)

Articles to Read

Kids Books

How to Talk to Kids About Homelessness — Jill Cowen (New York Times)

How To Talk to Kids About Homelessness Sarah Moore, founder of Dandelion Seeds Positive Parenting, discusses the importance of addressing the topic of homelessness with children (Dandelion Seeds Positive Parenting)

Kid’s First: Understanding Homelessness — This 3-minute news clip interviews Indiana-based community nonprofit leaders combatting homelessness (Fox59 News) 

Talking to Kids About Homelessness Betsy Brown Braun, Child development and behavior specialist, author, wife, mom, and granny (Contributor a HuffPost)

“What do I say?” How to talk to kids about homelessness — Connie French (United Way)

Homelessness Prevention — a brief on the major implications for policymakers and practitioners (Center for Evidence Based Solutions to Homelessness)

CityLab University: Understanding Homelessness in America — Benjamin Schneider (Bloomberg CityLab)

At the Intersection of Vulnerabilities: The Plight of Women and Girls Experiencing Homelessness During the Global Coronavirus Pandemic — Published April 2020, this resources looks into the specific risks and outcomes for women and girls experiencing homelessness during COVID19 globally (Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace, and Security)

Kids Books

A Shelter in Our Car by Monica Gunning

Fly Away Home by Eve Bunting

Uncle Willie and The Soup Kitchen by Dyanne Disalvo-Ryan

If I Had a Hammer: Stories of Building Homes and Hope with Habitat for Humanity by David Rubel  

Still a Family by Brenda Reeves Sturgis  

No Fixed Address by Susin Nielsen

On Our Street by Dr. Jillian Roberts

Crenshaw by Katherine Applegate

The Family Under the Bridge by Natalie Savage Carlson

Paper Things — by Jennifer Richard Jacobson

Sam and the Lucky Money by Karen Chinn

Maddi’s Fridge by Louis Brandt

Those Shoes by Maribeth Boelts

Last Stop On Market Street by Matt de la Peña

A Chair for My Mom by Vera B Williams

Volunteering Resources

More Information

Volunteer Match — Volunteer match provides a search engine to connect with local volunteer opportunities in a specific area of interest

Bombas Giving Directory This giving directory also provides local organizations fighting homelessness. Filter search results to see which organizations are currently accepting donations or volunteers. This directory includes 3,500+ partners nationally

Make a Kindness Bag — This tutorial/blog post provides directions for compiling "kindness bags" or mini-hygine kits to donate to a local homeless shelter

GreatNonprofits — This search engine allows you to find a nonprofit near you dedicated to helping homelessness in your local area

Veteran’s Community Project — Veterans Community Project is a nonprofit organization based out of Kansas City, MO that provides needed household items for in-need veterans. Donate to their tiny house furnishings amazon wishlist or provide a gift card to help the organization continue to build needed housing

More Information

Understanding Homelessness — An educational resource sponsored by Sasaki that explores homelessness through interactive data visualization, historical context, and systems perspectives

The Center for Evidence Based Solutions to Homelessness — A resource center with open publications/information to help inform policy makers, researchers, and practitioners combatting homelessness in America

National Alliance to End Homelessness A nonpartisan, non profit organization committed to preventing and ending homelessness in the United States with an extensive resource library

The National Coalition for the Homeless — A national network of people currently experiencing or who have experienced homelessness, activists and advocates, and community-based and faith-based service providers, and others committed to ending homelessness

The Impact of Homelessness for Children and Families — A brief, informational resource exploring the various negative impacts homelessness causes for children and families

Nonprofits Focused on Homelessness

Homeward Bound — Homeward Bound is dedicated to preventing and ending homelessness in communities through permanent housing and support

HandUP — HandUP provides a unique donation platform where donations are given directly to the selected cause

Carpenter’s Shelter Based out of Alexandria, VA, Carpenter's Shelter provides support for those experiencing or at risk of homelessness to achieve sustainable independence through shelter & housing location, guidance, education, and advocacy

Beyond Housing Beyond housing is based out of St. Louis, MO is a nonprofit dedicated to providing affordable homeownership for community members

Coalition for the Homeless — Coalition for the Homeless provides a variety of services for vulnerable people in need of shelter, housing, food, or under threat of eviction. Based out oof New York, the Coalition for the Homeless aims to help empower at-risk individuals with the resources and information to fight housing instability

National Homelessness Law Center — The National Homelessness Law Center "works in a variety of arenas to help the nation’s 3.5 million people who are experiencing homelessness and its many inhumane effects"

DePaul USA —"DePaul USA is a national homeless services nonprofit organization inspired by Vincentian values. Depaul USA is an affiliate of the international homelessness services organization, Depaul International Group"

PATH — Based out of California, PATH aims to end homelessness for individuals, families, and communities. PATH envisions a world where every person has a home. Our values include creative collaborations, strategic leadership, empowerment for all, and passionate commitment

My Friend’s Place — My Friend's Place focuses on helping youth experiencing homelessness move towards wellness, stability, and sufficiency

Tipping Point Community Based out of San Francisco, Tipping Point Community is dedicated to fighting poverty and homelessness in the Bay Area

NYC Rescue — New York City Rescue Mission provides a variety of services for people suffereing from homelessness in NYC. Additionally, they provide other care services such as workforce readiness, educational support, and some health care services

Step Up — Based in California, Georgia, Florida & Tennessee, Step Up delivers support to people experiencing serious mental health conditions and chronic homelessness to help them recover, stabilize, and integrate into the community

Alexandria House — Focused on serving women and children in the Los Angeles, California area, Alexandria house provides safe and supportive permanent housing for those in need

Horizons For Homeless Children — Horizons focuses on combatting the effects of homelessness for children. Based out of Massachusetts, Horizons aims to alleviate trauma and stress around homelessness for both children and families through providing support for the whole family

Homeless Children’s Network Based out of San Francisco, the Homeless Children's Network aims to empower children, youth and families towards a brighter future by decreasing the trauma of homelessness and domestic violence

National Alliance to End Homelessness A nonpartisan, non profit organization committed to preventing and ending homelessness in the United States

Sources: Minibooks

Resources linked on this page are created by third party organizations and do not necessarily reflect the values, opinions, or beliefs of Alltruists. Although Alltruists aims to provide family-friendly and age-appropriate content for children, adults should always be present in providing supervision while children explore resources on this page.