Who are we?


Striving for menstrual equity in Arkansas through donations, education, and legislation.

The Arkansas Period Poverty Project was founded in 2018 by Katie Clark after she read "Period Power: A Manifesto for the Menstrual Movement" by PERIOD founder, Nadya Okamoto. She began by reaching out to all of the public middle and high school principals in Little Rock and asked them if their students struggled with period poverty, a majority said yes. 

She created a GoFundMe, had friends and family donate, purchased products, and donated them to schools in Little Rock.

In 2019 we grew, adding on an Education Coordinator, Communications Coordinator, and Outreach Coordinators. In October 2019, we helped put on the first Arkansas Period Action Day rally with speakers, giveaways, and over 100 attendees.

In 2020, just like everyone else, we had to pivot. We no longer held educational meetings in person, but started interviewing experts on topics like PCOS and endometriosis and posted those videos to our social media so young people could learn about menstrual disorders. We continued to donate period products to schools and organizations in central Arkansas because the need for these products grew exponentially as people found themselves without jobs and access to period products.

In 2021, we worked with Representative Denise Ennett and Representative Aaron Pilkington on menstrual equity legislation. We built a coalition to help pass HB1611 - allowing public and charter schools use preexisting funds to purchase period products. We led a multi-platform, social media campaign to support HB1065 - to end the tampon tax. Unfortunately, due to the sexism of certain legislators, this bill died in committee.

This year, we have expanded our donation program. We've started shipping products directly to schools throughout Arkansas, primarily focusing on schools in the Delta and southern regions of the state. We've formed new partnerships with AAUW Arkansas and Citizens First Congress. We have gained the support of dozens of influential people and organizations on period legislation.

In 2023, we plan to help reintroduce the bill to end the tampon tax and make it mandatory that schools provide period products for free to students.

If you want to join us in the fight to end period poverty and create menstrual equity in Arkansas, email us at periodlittlerock@gmail.com

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