Programs and results
What we aim to solve
The SF Bay Area is leading the state’s and the nation’s economic boom. It also leads in adult education levels, maintains the highest average income levels per family and, as a result, also has some of the nation’s highest housing costs. But in the shadows of this economic explosion, the region’s poverty rate hovers around 18.5 percent and the widening socioeconomic gap has created a two-tiered society. Students experiencing poverty confront many hardships, but the lack of adequate clothing and footwear, and the cognitive stress of not having their basic needs met is consistently cited by researchers, educators, and child welfare advocates as a major systemic barrier to regular school attendance and engagement. The resulting emotional toll can impact a child’s social and emotional well-being and physical health for years to come.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Basic Needs Program
Economic insecurity or poverty is more than not having enough money. It relegates individuals, especially children, to a life of multiple stressors that undermine their health, social-emotional development, education and overall life outcomes. My New Red Shoes' Basic Needs Program enables caregivers to provide for the basic needs of their children including food, housing, medical care, clothing and access to resources for school by providing in-kind and/or emergency cash support.
Studies have shown that providing economic support to parents and caregivers helps to support family stability and effectively reduces child poverty, which can undermine children's healthy development and life outcomes.
Family Stability Program
As the San Francisco Bay Area continues to navigate the public health crisis, investing in the health and well-being of children and youth is more critical now than ever. To ensure an equitable recovery that leaves no family behind, MNRS is building on the success of our cash transfer pilot by launching our Family Stability Program that provides families experiencing financial distress with 12-months of economic support.
Where we work
External reviews

Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of new programs/program sites
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Basic Needs Program
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
With the goal of scaling our impact and reach, MNRS launched a Portland Affiliate in 2015, an Oakland Satellite in 2016, and new initiatives to clothe newcomer immigrant and migrant students in 2017.
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
The impact of the clothing gap on school-age children is significant. Studies show that students without adequate clothing and footwear are more likely to miss school, experience bullying and experience social isolation. The emotional toll and toxic stress of poverty can impact their social and emotional well-being and physical health for years to come.
The goals of our program are to:
1. Strengthen the capacity of our agency partners to increase services to students experiencing economic hardship
2. Reduce toxic stress factors related to poverty and improve social-emotional and health outcomes for youth experiencing economic hardship.
3. Improve school attendance and participation outcomes for students benefitting from the program.
4. Improve the financial stability of families.
Beyond providing the necessities of new shoes and clothing, MNRS helps to create long-term impact by boosting the self-esteem and confidence of students whose families experience economic hardship. By supporting a positive educational experience, MNRS helps disadvantaged students to break the cycle of poverty.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
My New Red Shoes provides a pair of new shoes and needed clothing to Kindergarten through 12th grade students at any time throughout the year. MNRS reaches the homeless and low-income children it serves by establishing partnerships with schools, homeless shelters, transitional housing programs, domestic shelters, case management agencies and other community-based child-serving organizations to identify the children and youth who would receive the greatest impact from its services. This partnership helps to maximize the use of community resources, assures that MNRS continues to address an unmet need, and allows its partner agencies to fill a gap in basic services they would otherwise be unable to provide.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
Since 2006, My New Red Shoes has clothed more than 90,000 students, filling a critical, unmet need. We do this with the support of a dynamic team, an engaged Board of Directors and an active and enthusiastic volunteer corps composed of families, individuals, community groups and corporate teams.
MNRS strives to continually strengthen its impact in high-need communities by deepening its relationships with current and new partner agencies and by increasing the capacity of the community’s resources to improve or expand its services to poor and homeless children. As it continues to strengthen its community-based partnerships, it has solicited and received valuable input from agency partners, gift recipients and their families regarding ways to continue to make its program more impactful and meaningful. This input is central to ensuring the organization is inclusive of the children and families it serves, and most importantly, for ensuring its programs are community-driven.
MNRS believes that the greatest impact it can ultimately provide is to empower the communities it serves by giving them the framework to identify community-centric solutions tailored to their specific needs--and then responding to those needs.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
Since our founding in 2006, My New Red Shoes has provided new shoes and clothing to more than 90,000 students. In late 2019, the MNRS Board launched a new human centered strategic planning process with the goal of increasing the organization’s capacity and effectiveness in responding to the widening poverty gap and the growing struggle low-income families face to provide for their children's basic needs. Through this process, it is also exploring new partnerships and developing new pilot initiatives that would put new financial payment products into the hands of the families we serve and provide them with supports, information, and mentoring to help close the financial literacy gap that so often holds lower-income families back from engaging with the banking system. MNRS hopes to elevate the organization’s impact as it strengthens and scales its program reach and undertakes a broader presence in the community.
In 2020, in response to the widening poverty gap and the growing struggle low-income families face to provide for their children’s basic needs, MNRS has expanded its program offerings by piloting a Long-Term Services Initiative. This initiative seeks to close the clothing gap for a select group of students and provide a measure of financial stability to their families by addressing their student’s on-going footwear and clothing needs for an extended period of time--often for a full year or more depending on family circumstances.
My New Red Shoes’ Long-Term Services Initiative works closely with staff from local schools and with case managers from partner agencies to identify the families that would benefit most from their children receiving new shoes and clothing. As each child’s clothing needs arise, MNRS receives information from case managers, social workers or counselors and works to provide needed items/support. Responsiveness to seasonal needs is critical to reducing anxiety and closing the opportunity and inclusion gap for students whose families struggle.
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
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My New Red Shoes
Board of directorsas of 04/01/2022
Kelly Reck
Employer Health Innovation Roundtable
Term: 2021 -
Sarah Berger Gonzalez
Stanford
Anna Bergstrom
Accenture Interactive
Minh Ngo
My New Red Shoes
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Yes
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
Gender identity
Sexual orientation
Disability
We do not display disability information for organizations with fewer than 15 staff.