Applications are open for NBCUniversal’s Local Impact Grants, an effort to help area nonprofits make a difference in our communities. One of NBC Connecticut’s past grant recipients is Dignity Grows, an organization that addresses the issue of period poverty.
According to a 2023 report by Dignity Grows, more than one-third of American women experience period poverty at some point in their lives. Period poverty is a lack of access to safe and hygienic menstrual products.
Dignity Grows distributes totes filled with hygiene products and period necessities to partners throughout the community, including Our Piece of the Pie, a Hartford-area nonprofit that helps young people succeed in education and employment.
"Being able to address that basic need and provide them with equitable access is crucial to allowing them to empower themselves and feel confident whenever they go into those academic or employment spaces,” Tajah Ryder, a youth development specialist with Our Piece of the Pie, said.
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Becca Carroll, a national operations associate with Dignity Grows, says they have received positive feedback from their community partners. Their clients can rely on the totes, which contain consistent products every single month.
"They see the need within their own clients, and we're able to support their basic hygiene needs so that they're able to go to school to their after-school programs or to their youth empowerment programs, and are able to participate in their daily lives," Carroll said.
In 2023, Dignity Grows received a $20,000 NBCUniversal Local Impact Grant. Carroll says that money made a dramatic difference in the community.
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"With the funding that we were able to get from the grant, we were able to supply an additional 2,000 of our hygiene tote bags to our Greater Hartford neighbors,” Carroll said. “In 2023, we gave out a total of 17,500 free hygiene and period products to those who can't afford them in Greater Hartford."
To learn more about Dignity Grows, click here.
To find out more about NBCUniversal Local Impact Grants and apply, click here.
