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Schools

It is vital that students have what they need to focus on their education. Providing menstrual products in schools is essential to ensuring a student’s education isn’t negatively impacted because of a lack of supplies. The impacts of these products reach far beyond a single classroom or school campus; research shows that a girl’s preparedness for puberty affects her sexual and reproductive outcomes, as well as her sense of self. A survey of Georgia school nurses, prepared by Georgia STOMP and delivered with the assistance of the Georgia Department of Education and the Georgia Association of School Nurses, documents that when products aren’t supplied by school systems, nurses and other school staff bear these costs personally. This graphic shows the timeline of funding allocated by the Georgia legislature to address this problem.

Prisons

Beginning in 2019, state agency leadership recognized that incarcerated women in Georgia should have access on an “as needed” basis to period products.  Subsequently, the Georgia Department of Correction (DOC) instituted a new policy effective 8/19/20. Products are now available pursuant to DOC’s  Feminine Hygiene Items Issuance Policy. This change was a welcome step towards Georgia women being treated with dignity and acceptance and greater normalization of the natural, healthy nature of menstruation. Georgia STOMP continues to monitor the implementation of the policy and would like to see the administrative procedure made into law. 

With this progress, protections now exist for women in the Federal Bureau of Prison facilities (via First Step Act 2018) and in Georgia Department of Correction facilities. 

Surveys of those incarcerated continue to reveal issues in the county and local jails and juvenile justice facilities.

Situational poverty

DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH (DPH)

Services and products provided by community health departments are lifelines for Georgians in need. Family finances were devastated by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the midst of the pandemic, DPH funding for period products was eliminated. Restoration of funding to local health departments means menstruators in Georgia can get what they need to menstruate with dignity and focus on getting back to daily life, be it work, school or otherwise. Georgia STOMP successfully advocated for funding restoration and $200,000 was returned to the FY22 DPH budget. 

GEORGIA EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AND HOMELAND SECURITY AGENCY

In 2019, state agency leadership recognized the need for menstrual products following natural disasters or emergencies and included period products on the list of basic needs that disaster relief funds can be used to purchase. Georgia STOMP was instrumental in this policy decision and Georgia STOMP member organization, Helping Mamas, has since worked with the Georgia Emergency Management Agency and Homeland Security to ensure supply of products during times of crisis.

HOMELESS POPULATION

In 2021, in preparation for more aggressively addressing the needs of those experiencing homelessness, Georgia STOMP member organization, The Dignity Pack Project, undertook an extensive landscape assessment surveying numerous service providers to those without a home in the Atlanta area. We look forward to the results of this research informing Georgia STOMP’s future advocacy efforts.

Our Work