When Poverty Isn’t “Poverty”

HARTFORD, Conn., Sept. 25, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — While the US Census Bureau determined that in 2023, 11.1% of Americans lived within the commonly accepted definition of “poverty,” another heart-wrenching statistic went largely unnoticed: During that same year, a startling 35.8% of women and girls in the USA faced the monthly struggles of “Period Poverty,” a debilitating, growing public health crisis that challenges the very definition of poverty in this county.

Period Poverty (the lack of or uncertain access to basic menstrual hygiene products due to financial constraints) is often the antecedent to long term medical and mental health implications, under-employment, and generational socio-economic instability. It is the hidden underlier of gaps in gender and educational equity and its numbers are rising.

Dignity Grows, a national nonprofit headquartered in Hartford, Connecticut, with outposts in 27 states is on a mission to respond not only to the skyrocketing rate of Period Poverty, but also its ripple effects. Each year, the organization’s national network of 5,000 mostly volunteer leaders provides free period products and hygiene basics to over 50,000 women and girls, in partnership with hundreds of frontline social service agencies.

“Period Poverty alters the ecosystem of socio-economic and personal stability for millions of women in unexpected ways.” Jennifer Tolman is President and Chief Operating Officer of Dignity Grows. “This crisis transcends our typical understanding of ‘poverty;’ nearly 40% of impacted women earn over $50,000 per year and 38% have a bachelor’s degree or higher. We must expand the narrative.”

Dignity Grows’ newest endeavor, “Hope in a Backpack” promises to exponentially increase the organization’s support radii, offering Period Poverty relief in the form of community-wide free product distributions. “The launch of ‘Hope in a Backpack’ provided free period necessities to every 7th-12th grade female public school student in Petersburg, Virginia, one of the most under-resourced communities in the state.” Dr. Daphne Bazile is Medical Director OB/GYN for Bon Secours Healthcare and a Director at Dignity Grows. “Without a program like this, so many girls miss multiple days of school each month and fall irreversibly behind. Additionally, many of my patients exhibit vaginal health concerns, the result of not having access to appropriate menstrual products.” Dignity Grows plans to bring “Hope in a Backpack” to communities across the country within the next year.

Dignity Grows’ scope of work also includes ongoing research on the lived experience of Period Poverty. Under the umbrella of The Period Poverty Institute of America, Dignity Grows has committed to collecting and synthesizing data on the prevalence of Period Poverty. Their first study uncovered the depths to which this nontraditional “poverty” impacts individuals, households, and whole communities. Period Poverty was revealed not only to intersect issues such as food insecurity, employment and educational barriers, personal and intimate disconnection, and imbalanced mental health, but to precipitate them. The second tier of Dignity Grows’ research builds a framework for much-needed holistic support for those touched by Period Poverty.

In the fall of 2025, Dignity Grows will host its biennial National Summit on Period Poverty. Cross-sector leaders from all corners of the country will assemble in Atlanta, Georgia to focus on collaborative modes to end domestic Period Poverty. Dignity Grows’ continued research, garnered through both academic partnerships and their national direct support network, will guide these change makers in dialogue and the adoption of an actionable agenda.

For millions of American women and girls, public recognition of Period Poverty and meaningful, data-driven efforts to its end are a pathway to present successes and future stability.

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SOURCE Dignity Grows