Mobile to get lion's share of funding based on number of girls enrolled in school district; followed by Montgomery.
Eric Mackey, EdD, State Superintendent of Education, Alabama State Board of Education, announced the Feminine Hygiene Products Grant allocations for qualified school districts for fiscal year 2024-2025. In May 2024, Alabama Governor Kay Ivey signed the state legislature’s passage of Rep. Danny Garrett's Education Trust Fund’s budget for the 2024-2025 academic year.
The state budget doubled the annual allocation for the Feminine Hygiene Products Grant program, authorized under State Representative Rolanda Hollis' HB 50, "Period Poverty Bill," from $200,000 to $400,000, effective September 2024. Gov. Ivey signed HB 50 into state law in April 2022. Breanna and Brooke Bennett, founders of Women in Training, Inc., inspired Rep. Hollis to introduce a bill to help end period poverty.
"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 menstrual cycle," said Rep. Hollis, who also volunteers as the Chairwoman of the Board, Women in Training, Inc. "Here in Alabama, we're taking steps to help alleviate period poverty for our girls in Grades 5 through 12."
The Feminine Hygiene Products Grant awards funds to school districts in Alabama to provide menstrual supplies to students enrolled in qualifying schools at no cost to those students.
"Annually, funds will be awarded to applicable LEAs for each qualifying school on a pro-rata basis based on the total number of female students enrolled in Grades 5-12 at those schools," Dr. Mackey stated. "Any local education agency that accepts a grant award shall provide feminine hygiene products to girls in Grades 5-12 through a female school nurse, female school counselor, or female teacher whom the school principal selects."
Dr. Mackey stated that public schools qualify for this grant program by meeting the following criteria:
a. Include students enrolled in any combination of Grades 5-12
b. Receive Title I funds.
The Alabama State Board of Education will automatically disburse funds to school districts on a quarterly basis. Schools must spend grant funds by September 30, 2025.
Grants ranged from a low of $56 to Madison City Schools to $38,449 in Mobile. The complete list of grant allocations may be found HERE.
To help alleviate period poverty, Women in Training, Inc. provides the following services:
Donations of WITKITS – canvas bags full of menstrual, dental and hygiene supplies – to underserved girls and women. To date, WIT volunteers have distributed more than 30,000 WITKITS to families.
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 date, ten Monarchs have graduated from high school and are enrolled in university.
WIT medical professionals facilitate workshops on menstrual hygiene and publishes the brochure, “The WIT Guide to the Menstrual Cycle.”
Watch the video below of Dr. Marguerite Barber-Owens and Nurse Educator Nyoka Samuels-Gilchist, MSN, RN, facilitating the WIT Hygiene Education workshop for elementary school girls.
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 menstrual education programs and distributions of WITKITS filled with menstrual, dental and hygiene supplies to families in need," Ms. Bennett said. "To support our mission to help end period poverty, please click the link below."