Hundreds of thousands of American students are less likely to attend school if they do not have access to clean clothes, which is why this company is installing dozens of washing machines and dryers in schools across the country.
Whirlpool is donating the machines in order to provide struggling kids with the capacity to correctly do their clothes.
The pilot study of the Whirlpool Care Counts laundry service found that 90% of tracked students were more likely to attend class if they had clean clothes.
Since the data was made public, the company has received over 900 applications for the program around the country.
In the coming school year, the organization will collaborate with Teach For America to install washers and dryers in 60 new schools across the United States.
The program is currently only available in Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, Tennessee, and North Carolina.
Children who are chronically missing in preschool, kindergarten, and first grade are substantially less likely to read on grade level by third grade, and by high school, attendance is a greater predictor of dropout than test scores.
East High School in Utah is said to have 80 homeless students out of 2,000 students. The students are either living in shelters, on the streets, or at the homes of friends.
The school’s installation of washing machines and dryers has proven useful to homeless youths as well as students whose families are too dysfunctional to own working laundry appliances.
“We know that various challenges, such as a lack of transportation or access to clean clothes, hinder many underserved pupils from coming to school every day,” said a school representative from Georgia.
“The stigma connected with this can have long-term impacts on children, leading to significant school absences in many cases.”
“We work hard to raise scholars’ confidence through academics and social/emotional work,” said another representative.
“Having clean uniforms will substantially increase student confidence in order to start the academic day with minimal problems.”