Mississippi Coats 4 Kidz

Our solution is to fundraise and write grants in order to purchase enough coats to serve all 82 counties of Mississippi.  We currently operate within 21 counties, but want to expand our scalability. The process is to work with community stakeholders such as teachers, principals, pastors, and community leaders. Our initiative naturally incorporates human-centered design because providing a coat to citizens who are less fortunate is one of the most humane things one can do. 

The specific problem within the challenge is that the average annual income of a Mississippi resident is $26,000. Thus, purchasing new coats for children or others is oftentimes not in the budget.  The scale of the problem is vast.  Within the last six years, we have given away 37,000 new coats, and we are only servicing 25% of the Mississippi (MS) population. Our solution contributes to the fact that many residents simply do not have the funds to purchase coats.  As it stands, 346,000 children of (MS) live in abject poverty, and many of those children are either in foster care of homeless.

Mississippi is the poorest state in the United States, and as stated earlier, the average annual income of a Mississippi resident is $26,000.  That makes for a very hard and unsustainable life, especially if children are a factor.  Thus, the challenge is poverty, and our solution is to provide a basic need to disadvantaged citizens, so there will be one less concern for them to have.  Being warm in the winter curtails school absences due to cold and flu conditions. Students arrive to school ready to learn, and finally coats give a sense of security, and prevent hypothermic injury.  

Our solution serves infants, school aged children, seniors, and veterans. Approximately 10% are infants, 60% are children ages 2-18, 20% are seniors, and 10% are veterans. Approximately 90% are African-American; 5% Caucasian; 1% Asian; 2% Hispanic, and 2% Native American. We served approximately 55% males and 45% females.  This population is currently underserved because they lack access and information that will help them overcome some of their challenges. 

We work with community stakeholders who personally know the needs of their community; however, when we disseminate the coats at various churches, schools, community center, etc., we engage with the recipients and here what they have to say. 

We have contributors in Maryland who are considering the expansion in the Washington D.C./Maryland area.  The market opportunity is great in this area because there are many underserved communities. The cost of living is higher in the DMV, and the immigrant population where millions are denied benefits suffer greatly.

At this time, our mission is to sustain small businesses. 

Our intended impact as it relates to long-term and sustainable change begins with our initial thrust, which was to provide coats to under-privileged children. Children, who are cold, are prone to chronic illness and attend fewer days of school.    The spiral effect of that is loss of learning time, excessive placement in Special Education programs, disruptive behavior in the classroom, bullying due to the lack of resources, and insecurity due to the lack of basic needs.  Thus, we believe that our solution mitigates the problem of poverty, which can be pervasive for many.

Our solution three businesses.  We are currently serving approximately 6000 people.  We will serve 8000 in one year, and about 18K in five years.

We serve 21 of 82 Mississippi counties.  We serve anyone who lives below the poverty line, and is in need of a coat.  The director and board influences the organizational strategy, and our stakeholders are local officials, teachers, principals, clergy, community leaders, and businesses. 

In order to create community-based and place based solutions, we collaborate with stakeholders to organize and distribute community members in need of coats.  They host the distribution at the facilities that they manage, and we all have direct contact with the citizens that we serve. 

We build trust by keeping our word, creating verbal and written contracts, and delivering quality service and products. 

Within the next year, we plan to increase the counties that we serve.  We currently serve 25% of Mississippi counties, but we would like to increase by at least 10%.  Within five years, we would like to serve all 82 counties.  We hope to do this by getting direct help from the state because the need is so tremendous.  

Our team is well positioned to deliver this solution because it is a humanitarian act that does not require a lot of skill, but instead, a lot of heart.

The Truist Foundation will help us maximize our initiative to ensure that every Mississippi citizen who is unable to afford a coat, will receive one.  We believe that Truist can help us upgrade our operation methods, and add more sophistication to the way that we operate.  We are successful because we meet a fundamental need, but whether we are funded or not, we could certainly use your expertise in finding solutions to problems. 

Our partnership goals go beyond a financial commitment. We would seek your counsel in terms of starting endowments, increasing our scalability, and running a more efficient operation.

We would like to partner with organizations that have an excess of Winter Weather Gear, and we would also like to partner with organizations that can provide financial literacy.  We give away thousands of new coats a year, but financial literacy training may help some of the citizens that we serve become empowered in order to have a more safe and assured lively-hood.