Innovative, sustainable solution to Period Poverty in LA County

Income inequality

County of Los Angeles (select only if your project has a countywide benefit) Central LA East LA South LA San Fernando Valley Antelope Valley San Gabriel Valley Gateway Cities West LA

Expand existing project, program, or initiative (expanding and continuing ongoing, successful work)

In LA county, 2 million women and girls menstruate each month—yet 500,000 lack the period products they need. 1 in 4 teens in LA struggle to afford products. Black and Latina women/girls are hit hardest—1 in 5 live below the poverty line.
Harmful patriarchal norms mean a basic human need is overlooked - even here in LA where period products aren’t covered by public assistance programs like SNAP, WIC, or CalFresh.
Period poverty has serious consequences: it compromises health as people improvise with other items or use products longer than is safe, fuels shame and depression, causes women/girls to miss work/school, forces families to choose between products and food/rent, and perpetuates inequality and cycles of disadvantage. Single-use products which contain undisclosed toxins, also pose health risks.
At a recent food distribution center event, we met a woman who was using a glass bottle to manage her period. We must do better for LA’s least resourced women and girls.

There is a proven, cost-effective solution for period poverty: Menstrual cups. They can be reused for 10 years, safely stay in for 12 hours, and confer health benefits compared to pads/tampons. One cup user could save about $6K in her lifetime by switching to a cup, and keep 14K single-use products out of ecosystems.
With over 70 community-facing partners, The Flow is the only nonprofit in LA County fighting period poverty with in-person, English/Spanish culturally-responsive menstrual cup education and distribution of free cups. We have cut period poverty by 50% for cup recipients but face increasing demand for our work. Awareness of/interest in cups has grown in underserved communities but knowledge/access remains very low so the financial/health benefits of cups aren't accessible to those who need them most.
Our events at partner sites empower unhoused people, low-income students, residents of transitional living facilities, recipients of food donations, system-impacted people, and foster youth with new tools/knowledge, and increase self-sufficiency, health and dignity. Our Educators create no-TMI safe spaces for participants to ask questions that are often taboo, and facilitate conversations that normalize periods.
Participants receive free cups, can take cups for friends/family, and receive one-to-one support through SMS and open Zoom office hours for 6 months post-event.
The funds requested here would support 65 events, reaching 3250 additional women/girls.

We envision a more equitable LA County where no one’s dignity, health/mental health, or potential is compromised by a normal biological function. And we have a proven, scalable model already making a big impact.
With this grant, we could reach an additional 3250 of LA’s most vulnerable women/girls keeping $2.7M in their wallets by 2036 and diverting 6.4M single-use period products from landfills/the environment.
We hope to provide 10K cups in 2025, over 50K by 2030, make cup knowledge endemic in low-resourced communities, and use impact data to affect policy so that low-resourced people here have cup awareness/education/access.
In recognition of our impact, the widespread problem of period poverty and the role of menstrual cups in a solution, partners like the LA County Department of Public Health, Lynwood Unified School District, LA Regional Food Bank and Lynwood Women’s Jail (CRDF) are requesting that we scale our programs which this grant would support.