Honest to Goodness: An Update

As most of you know, Honest was founded with a mission: We’re here to make a world of healthy, safe choices even easier to attain for more families. In stride with this mission, we are proud to reveal our updated social goodness platform, one that will renew our long-term goals and shape what we do for many years to come. Through our corporate social responsibility initiatives, our commitment comes to life —  investing in the whole development of children ages 0-3 and supporting the education of young people in pursuit of their dreams.

There’s a reason why our efforts begin early. By age 1, a baby's brain looks more like an adult's than like a newborn's. By age 3, 85% of its structures will be formed. By age 5, it will be 90% of its adult size. Children cultivate 85% of their intellect, personality, and skills by age 5 in childcare, schools, and homes, but less than 4% of public investments in education and child development have occurred by that age. With 60% of moms returning to work within 6 months of giving birth, we can never start too soon when it comes to supporting change for children. When it comes to early learning and child care environments, there just aren’t enough resources to address critical issues that affect kids for the rest of their lives.

The links between brainpower and proper nutrition, for example, show how important it is to access and learn about healthy food in these spaces. We’re also supporting center directors with our safe, healthy cleaning products to speak to the effects of environment on sick days, behavioral challenges, and more. Our all-encompassing approach ensures child care workers receive cutting-edge research in cognitive development and grants for teacher education and skill-training, as well. Our ultimate focus is to strengthen the child care field as a whole so that we as parents can feel confident our kids are receiving the best care.

With a sound start and the best support, children can grow up to be anything they want to be — our technology education partners ensure it will be a bright future for more young people than ever. By 2020, there will be 1.4 million jobs in technology, yet 90% of schools do not offer computer science courses. We’re working with leaders in the tech field to inspire more kids to consider coding and invest in the creation of a new, advanced computer science curriculum that will be taught in 75 school districts nationwide starting this fall. We’re also hosting the first LA-based summer internship program with Girls Who Code, a national nonprofit organization working to close the gender gap in technology and engineering. Who knows — their entrepreneurial spirit could fuel the next generation of change!

Head over to our new Social Goodness page to learn even more about our specific partnerships and spending, including where your dollars go with the purchase of Honest products. We’re looking forward to more Social Goodness to feed the mind, body, and spirit in 2015!