In May 2024, Alabama Governor Kay Ivey celebrated the State Legislature’s passage of the Education Trust Fund’s budget for the 2024-2025 academic year. The budget doubled the state’s annual allocation to the Feminine Hygiene Products Grants program from $200,000 to $400,000, effective September 2024.
“Education is every Alabama child’s ticket to a successful future, and I am proud this year’s budget is exactly that – an investment in the future of Alabama,” Governor Ivey said in a statement.
State Rep. Danny Garrett, Chairman of the Alabama House Ways and Means Education Committee, sponsored the Education Trust Fund bill, totaling $9.3 billion. State Rep. Rolanda Hollis, who also serves as Chairwoman of Women in Training, Inc., proposed the budget increase for the Feminine Hygiene Products Grants program.
The Feminine Hygiene Products Grant is a result of the unanimous legislative passage in April 2022 of Rep. Hollis’ HB 50 “Period Poverty Law.” The grant was established in fiscal year 2023 to allocate state funds to the Alabama Department of Education to administer grants to provide menstrual supplies for more than 50,000 girls in grades five through 12 in Alabama’s Title I schools.
“I am so appreciative of Rep. Garrett and my House and Senate colleagues for recognizing the importance of girls statewide having access to the menstrual supplies they need to be healthy in school,” Rep. Hollis said. “Educators and school nurses were telling us that the original $200,000 was not enough to meet the needs of our girls who need feminine hygiene products every single month.”
One in four girls living in the United States skip school or miss work because they cannot afford sanitary pads or tampons to stay healthy and clean during their period. To alleviate period poverty, Women in Training, Inc. provides donations of WITKITS – canvas bags full of feminine hygiene products – to underserved girls. Women in Training, Inc. also manages the WIT Leadership Development Academy to help develop middle and high school girls into culturally competent global leaders who care about themselves and the world around them.
To support the need for menstrual education, WIT facilitates workshops on menstrual hygiene and publishes the brochure, “The WIT Guide to the Menstrual Cycle.” Please see the video below.
“More than one quarter of students in Alabama's public schools live in poverty, and half of them are girls who menstruate every month," said Adeyela Bennett, President and CEO of Women in Training, Inc. “This increase in the Feminine Hygiene Products Grants program will be a huge help. Inflation has caused an increase in everything, including menstrual supplies, such as pads and tampons. Girls and their parents should not have to decide between food, rent and their monthly period products."
Dr. Eric Mackey, Superintendent, Alabama State Department of Education, manages the Feminine Hygiene Products Grant program. Last year, Dr. Mackey disseminated a memorandum to school superintendents to outline a simplified process for school staff members to access the Feminine Hygiene Products Grants funding.
“Annually, funds will be awarded to applicable local education agencies (LEAs) for each qualifying school on a pro rata basis, based on the total number of female students enrolled in Grades 5 through 12 at those schools," Dr. Mackey wrote. "Funds will automatically be disbursed to the LEAs on a quarterly basis.”
In Alabama, 850 schools, or 66 percent, qualify for Title I. Notwithstanding the state funding to the Alabama Department of Education, the need is not completely met for menstrual supplies for students.
"Women in Training, Inc. continues to provide services and WITKITS of menstrual, dental and hygiene supplies to girls in Alabama," Ms. Bennett. "To support our mission to help end period poverty, please click the link below."
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