WGC's YWGC Members Working to Combat Period Poverty

The Women’s Giving Circle of Howard County (WGC) hosts our Young Women’s Giving Circle (YWGC) for high school aged young women to learn about philanthropy, leadership, community, and specific issues like women’s health and period poverty. 

Last night, YWGC intern Ellie Vernick, on behalf of the WGC's YWGC, testified to the Howard County Board of Education regarding the availability of period products in Howard County schools.

“The best philanthropists work for change" said WGC YWGC and "Break the Cycle" Chair. "That's just what our YWGC interns did last night as they testified at the Howard County Board of Education meeting, urging the school system to fulfill the requirements of state legislation and stock period products in school restrooms.”

Here's what YWGC's Ellie Vernick said, on behalf of the WGC's Young Women's Giving Circle:

"My name is Ellie Vernick, and I am here representing the WGC's Young Women’s Giving Circle of Howard County, a high school student intern group dedicated to addressing women’s health and combating period poverty in our community.

• Under Maryland House Bill 205, each county board of education is required to ensure that each public school provides, at no charge to students, menstrual hygiene products via dispensers in the women’s restrooms at the school. However, throughout the past few months, many HCPSS students have noticed that the menstrual hygiene dispensers available in schools have failed time and time again to be restocked. More often than not, the dispensers are left empty, or broken. Starting in June of 2025, my fellow interns from the Young Women’s Giving Circle have been tracking the status of menstrual product dispensers. Our audit - which covers majority of HCPSS high schools (including Hammond, Long Reach, Marriott Ridge, Howard, River Hill, Atholton, Glenelg, Guilford Park) and several middle schools - found that, on average, none of the 1–4 dispensers installed per school were stocked. At best, only 1 or 2 of the dispensers were filled per school. Since the beginning of this school year in September, our reevaluation of the dispensers shows a very similar trend, with the dispensers continuing to go unstocked. 
• Additionally, there are no ways to let the relevant staff know that the dispensers need restocking, causing this problem to continue to stay unresolved. Even more concerning, we have found that 50% of schools often lock the bathrooms that contain dispensers, so that even if the dispensers were stocked, the students are still prevented from reaching them. 
• As long as students are unable to access these facilities and the corresponding products that are supposed to be found within these dispensers, these girls remain at a significant disadvantage, directly contradicting the intent of the law. Menstrual products are not a luxury- they are a necessity. This isn’t a problem that girls need to be thinking about during the school day; they are here to learn, and it is the county’s responsibility to ensure that these students can do just that, comfortably and with dignity. 

Thank you for your time, and we urge you to take immediate action to restore consistent access to menstrual hygiene products in all HCPSS schools."

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