(DNAINFO) Katie Honan | June 23, 2016 — Councilwoman Julissa Ferreras-Copeland first started a program in Corona last September.
Hundreds of thousands of women and girls will have access to free pads and tampons thanks to a new bill that will be passed Tuesday by the City Council.
The bill is an expansion on a proposal first introduced in September by Councilwoman Julissa Ferreras-Copeland, who brought free products to a high school in Corona through a partnership with a health care company.
Ferreras-Copeland — who said the program is “her baby” — said the passage is a testament to the “advocates, the administration and this council” and should begin within the next four months.
Dispensers will be installed in 800 schools, giving access to 300,000 students, and will cost an initial $3.7 million, she said. The annual cost after that will be $1.9 million.
Homeless shelters will provide pads and tampons at shelters serving around 23,000 women and girls, at a cost of more than half a million dollars in the first year.
City jails, which already provide a limited number of products, will eliminate a cap on how many women can use, she added. They will also, for the first time, offer tampons in addition to pads to inmates.
After-school programs and food pantries will also be able to submit feminine products as part of their budget expenditures, which they weren’t able to before, Ferreras-Copeland said.
Source: Bill for Free Pads and Tampons to Pass in City Council Tuesday: Pol – Corona – DNAinfo New York