Note in the Pocket

There is a colossal, and yet unseen, clothing crisis destroying educational equity for our students. There are millions of students whose families lack the financial resources for basic needs like socks and underwear, a warm coat in the winter, or school clothes when they grow and seasons change. Students are wearing shoes that are falling apart, causing physical pain because they are too small. They are forced to wear clothing that is so tight that kids can't breathe. This hurts them physically, emotionally and academically. 

Our organization has identified a basic need that is not being adequately in any significant and widespread way. The consequences are that students are being negatively affected socially, emotionally, physically, mentally and academically. It is unacceptable that children suffer in their education because they lack appropriate clothing for school.

If selected as a winner, we would expose this injustice and offer access to our unique and innovative identification and distribution model to increase the ability to provide comfort and confidence to students in need everywhere. Thereby allowing students to see themselves, and their futures, in a whole new light and increasing their motivation and tenacity to seize the educational opportunities available to them.   

I inherited the leadership of Note in the Pocket from the founder and became the first Executive Director. From the beginning, my primary goal has always been to build an extremely solid foundation to support continuous capacity building. In a school district where over 50,000 students are identified as living in poverty, we had to learn and grow quickly to provide emergency clothing assistance to as many homeless and impoverished schoolchildren and their families as possible, and in the most effective way. To accomplish this we have intentionally been creative and innovative to see what works and what doesn’t. We don’t fear learning from trial and error. 

My personal long-term career goal is to achieve a healthy balance between  continuously growing the impact for our children in Wake County with building the structure and plan to expand our program beyond our community. To do this successfully, we will need to complete our replication model, process and refine the tool kit each new Note in the Pocket will need to be successful in other jurisdictions. 

Now that this educational equity issue has come to light, it needs to be addressed everywhere students are suffering. 

A little girl asked her teacher, “Am I trash?” The fact that all of this child’s few belongings were constantly carried around in a trash bag led to this question. Growing children require a larger basic wardrobe that shouldn’t fit into one trash bag. Clothing insecurity is a leading cause of educational inequity. 

Note in the Pocket has identified a fundamental and dramatic unmet need in the US and Globally. Students that lack sufficient clothing suffer socially, emotionally, physically, mentally and academically. Students’ basic needs must be met before they can learn deeply. While food and housing issues are being addressed by hundreds of programs, clothing needs have not been addressed in any organized and intentional way. This to us is astounding.   

A coat, pair of shoes or one or two outfits are not enough to meet the clothing needs of a child. Our program builds mini-wardrobes of high quality clothing, in each child’s specific sizes, for students pre-k through high school. The clothing is donated by the community and provided for free. Because of the generosity of the community, we are able to provide needed clothing to younger siblings and adults in the home as well.  

Note in the Pocket is in itself an innovative program by virtue of the fact that we have been unable to locate any programs nationally, offering the same quality and quantity of clothing support.  Most programs provide one or two pieces of clothing or a pair of shoes and the quality left a lot to be desired. As our program grew, we realized early that the thrift shop or clothing closet resource approach was not enough. Our program provides two week’s worth of clothing. We are the only organization in our community, and across the country that is meeting this basic need at this scale.  

Our unique model for distributing the clothes to the children, strives to remove some of the stigma that goes along with needing help. We deliver a wardrobe that has been lovingly selected for that individual by one of our volunteers. By providing stylish, good quality clothing items that they can be proud to wear, we empower children to succeed academically.

We are going beyond delivering quality clothing but also providing hope, self-esteem, joy, pride and the confidence to improve one’s social and educational development.

Note in the Pocket is the only organization that provides free, quality clothing. Until now, students have lacked a program designed to invest in their social and educational development by providing sufficient well-fitting school clothes to improve confidence and performance. We impact a child's individual well-being and their surrounding environment. 

Over 20% of global production waste comes from the textile and apparel sectors. Our program decreases the environmental burden of clothing by reusing over 160,000 lbs of donated clothing each year. By diverting used clothing from the waste system, we are promoting a more sustainable way to close the loop. 

Since 2013, Note in the Pocket has provided clothing to over 30,000 impoverished and homeless children and family members. We have successfully grown our annual number clothed in increments of 500 individuals. In 2020 we were able to clothe 5,088 individuals and deliver 104,909 items of clothing, valued at over $793,000. As we see the need continue to rise, we are increasing our annual growth for 2021 to serve an additional 1,000 individuals for a total of 6,000 clothed. Our program has shown sustainable growth over the past eight years and now we’re poised to scale it to other communities.