The Village for Families & Children, a community services nonprofit in Hartford, is collaborating with area nonprofits Dignity Grows and United Way of Central and Northeastern Connecticut to fight period poverty, the lack of menstrual and hygiene products and chronic school absenteeism.
The Village’s annual back-to-school backpack drive includes the usual pencils and notebooks, but also for the first time, menstrual and hygiene products.
Hector Glynn, president and CEO at the Village, said families in Hartford are having to make decisions between providing their children with school supplies and period products, or paying for food or rent.
The National Retail Federation estimates that families with children in elementary through high school will spend an average of about $875 on school items.
More than 35% of people in the U.S. cannot afford monthly menstrual hygiene products,a key social determinant of health.
Nearly half of those impacted by period poverty live above the federal poverty level and are above the threshold of government assistance or supplemental programs.
In Connecticut, government assistance programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which provides food stamps, does not cover personal hygiene necessities, according to Dignity Grows.
The nonprofits hope to fill the backpacks of more than 1,000 children by Aug. 27, when Hartford students return to school.
