Back-to-school shopping can take a serious toll on family budgets. Win, the largest provider of shelter and supportive housing for homeless families in New York City, teamed up with Airbnb to launch a back-to-school giveaway of backpacks and books at the Rosa Parks family shelter in Park Slope on Aug. 18.
With a donation from Airbnb, Win will distribute 3,000 backpacks filled with supplies to school-age children living in the nonprofit’s 16 shelters and supportive housing units across the city before the first day of school.
Christine Quinn, CEO and president of Win, told Brooklyn Paper that new supplies not only set children up for success but also shield them from bullying.
“We know children, they bully, and when they see somebody with a used backpack or an old pen or crumpled up paper notebook, and they know there’s a shelter in the neighborhood, which people know, they pick on those kids as the ‘shelter kids,’ and it happens every day,” Quinn said.
Last year, one in eight New York City public school students were homeless. On average, they attended two to three different schools a year. Sixty-seven percent of those students missed at least one of every 10 school days, and their high school dropout rate was three times that of permanently housed peers.
Quinn said the trauma of homelessness — often compounded by domestic violence, sexual abuse, eviction and poverty — puts children at a significant disadvantage in the classroom. Win offers trauma-informed tutoring, learning centers, lending libraries, playgrounds and peer communities to help young people and their parents process trauma, she said.
“So kicking off the school year with backpacks and books that will help them — the books were also part of our summer STEAM camp program — really helps us address that educational issue, and we want to make sure that our children are prepared to be as brilliant as we know they can be, and we wouldn’t be able to do any of this if it wasn’t for Airbnb,” Quinn said.
Michael Blaustein, policy lead for the Northeast Atlantic at Airbnb, told Brooklyn Paper that housing stability is one of the company’s top priorities.
“There’s no better organization to get to partner with than Win and Chris Quinn. It truly is an honor to get to support the incredible work that they’re doing and really making a difference in the lives of countless children, especially before they go back to the school year,” Blaustein said.
When asked about critics who say short-term rental platforms contribute to housing instability, Blaustein said Airbnb helps ease the affordability crisis by giving homeowners extra income to keep their homes.
“About 80% of our hosts are actually using Airbnb income [to pay for] the increase in mortgage and electricity, and 10% actually use that income to avoid foreclosure proceedings. So we are part of the system that is fighting against all the affordability crises that are happening across the city,” Blaustein said. “I understand the affordability crisis and what people deal with in the ecosystem that is raising a family in New York. The idea that we can be here and support some more vulnerable population is truly, truly an emotional and fulfilling thing to get to do.”
In 2024, Win helped more than 900 families move from shelters into permanent housing and served 12,400 people, including more than 6,700 children. Among them were Florence Yelverton and her 16-year-old son, Noah, who have lived at the Rosa Parks family shelter for eight months.
Yelverton said she was grateful for the back-to-school supplies.
“The free giveaway with the book bag, we really do appreciate that, because a lot of us mothers in here are still struggling. This giveaway is perfect for all of us,” Yelverton said. “We are trying to make it, take care of children, plus trying to look for our apartments and to move on from this beautiful place. Everything that [Win] does for us here is beautiful. Words can’t express how much they have helped us, especially me.”
Fourteen-year-old Jazz, who loves basketball and math, said she was glad to receive supplies because not everyone gets the opportunity.
“I’m happy that people have kind hearts [and] give to other people,” Jazz said.
