During an listening session at The Garage's Avondale location in August 2025, a critical theme emerged: the stark lack of accessible and affordable menstrual products. Students shared frustrating realities of missing instructional time to trek to the nurse’s office for basic supplies, while others skipped school entirely during their periods. Drawing on an education and policy background, the facilitator recognized a systemic flaw - products were missing in restrooms where they were needed most. Instead, students without their own menstrual supplies were forced to make an often long trip to the nurse’s office where the products are kept. Compounding the issue was a glaring lack of variety; the nurse’s office only stocked standard medium-flow tampons and bulky pads, leaving students with heavy or light flows with virtually no viable options.
The solution lies in policy change, specifically mandating that free menstrual products be accessible directly within school restrooms. This local initiative seamlessly aligns with a broader statewide momentum: both the 2024–2025 and 2025–2026 Pennsylvania state budgets carved out a dedicated funding line item for school menstrual products, a victory sparked by First Lady Lori Shapiro's advocacy. By capitalizing on these state funds, this proposal aims to bridge a critical institutional gap. Currently, most districts make menstrual products accessible in the nurse's office. In sprawling middle and high school buildings, getting from class to the nurse’s office can be cumbersome and counterproductive - leading to loss of valuable instruction. This proposal leverages available state dollars to move essential products into the restrooms, where they can properly support student equity and attendance.
In collaboration with The Garage Community and Youth Center, an initiative was born with the goal of teaching students how to champion a school district-level policy for restroom-accessible menstrual products. Met with enthusiastic support, the collaboration initially focused on the Avon Grove School District (AGSD), and was launched with a student recruitment meeting at the Avondale location in January 2026, which The Fund simultaneously worked with AGSD Board members and administrators. This was an intentional step as the goal was for the initiative to be collaborative and supportive of all parties. This strategic outreach resulted in full backing, including the district suggesting the initiative be hosted out of their high school.
In January 2026, a student from another district reached out when she learned about Project Dignity, and requested to start the initiative in her district. Given staffing and capacity constraints, she was told the program would have to look different because “behind the scenes” work unfortunately wasn’t possible. The Fund suggested if she would like to gather a group of students, The Fund could provide the education and advocacy support they all needed to take lead.
And lead the student did! Within 24 hours, the student had a dozen students from multiple high schools signed up and ready to work. In June 2026, a student from yet another district reached out requesting to start a cohort in a third school district. This work will begin Fall 2026.
To learn more about the AGSD and other cohorts, click here.
To learn more about how the program works, click here.