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Sesame Street Muppets Help Children Cope During COVID-19 Pandemic

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The Sesame Street in Communities project released a video today, on its Facebook page to help children cope with tough challenges that have been made worse by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The video features a staff member of a Miami-Dade County-based nonprofit. WLRN’s Veronica Zaragovia has more.

"Hola amigos, it’s me Rosita from Sesame Street. And I’m so excited to make new friends in Miami."

Rosita and other Sesame Street Muppets will be answering questions from children to help them deal with topics like homelessness or parental addiction.

"There's so much fewer resources, particularly in Spanish as well, that help look at parental addiction from a point of view that it's not a consequence and reduces the stigma."

That’s the Sesame Workshop’s Jeanette Betancourt.

She says they explain that addiction is a disease that needs treatment. The video includes an expert from Thriving Mind South Florida. It’s a network of providers in Miami-Dade and Monroe Counties that focus on mental health and substance abuse.

Here’s Thriving Mind’s Laura Naredo.
"There’s a lot of stigma associated with behavioral health issues, especially addiction."

The video is on the Facebook page of Sesame Street in Communities. Later this month they’ll post a version in Spanish.

If you'd like to listen to this story, click on the clip at the top of the page.

Danielle Prieur covers education in Central Florida.