President Obama’s #DiaperGap Promotion Helps Make Diapers Available To Low-Income Families
Thanks to President Obama, the #DiaperGap hashtag and initiative is quickly growing, representing a series of programs and incentives he hopes will make diapers more available to low-income families. He promoted the efforts on social media last week, before appearing at SXSW to discuss the role of technology in the efforts. Though it isn’t a government program, the president is helping to promote it and to bring together private sector entities and non-profits to join the effort.
Nearly 1 in 3 American families struggle to afford diapers. We’re working with the private sector to help fix this. pic.twitter.com/fxvdOCFeET
— President Obama (@POTUS) March 11, 2016
Announcing the project, Obama noted that low-income families may spend as much as 14 percent of their income on diapers. Further, he pointed out that many low-income families don’t have access to certain opportunities that help many households bring down the cost of diapers. These families may not be able to afford bulk buys, or have access to warehouse clubs or discount stores, and may not be able to afford the initial outlay for cloth diapering.
A number of for-profit companies are working together to help provide lower-cost diapers, and even donating products, and with the additional attention brought by the president’s involvement, more are joining in.
Hope you’ll check out @POTUS‘s closing argument from today’s event at SxSW. Nice shoutout for #DiaperGap https://t.co/CWcsNABI8k
— Jason Goldman (@Goldman44) March 11, 2016
First, there’s a team effort by Cuties, Jet, and the National Diaper Bank Network. Cuties, a diaper brand from First Quality, will be producing new economy packs — with plainer packages and more diapers per package, and a resulting price of one-third to one-half the cost, per diaper. Jet, an online retailer that specializes in bulk buys, will help with low-cost shipping. The National Diaper Bank Network is inviting donations to help provide these diapers to local diaper banks, and in turn to families in need.
Major diaper brands Huggies and Pampers have also joined the DiaperGap initiative. Both had already earmarked diapers for donations to NDBN this year, but since President Obama’s announcement, they’re adding millions more.
Proud to support @POTUS @WhiteHouse by pledging 1 million more diapers to @FeedingAmerica #DiaperGap #SXSW2016 pic.twitter.com/GpECqmwuRz
— Pampers (@Pampers) March 11, 2016
We’re helping close #DiaperGap w/our just announced donation of 22M diapers, learn more at https://t.co/6q8teYtWYDhttps://t.co/A4hMOnEJvD
— Huggies® (@Huggies) March 11, 2016
Huggies will also match donations of up to a million more, here.
On Friday, Honest Company joined the initiative, promising at least 400,000 diapers, plus more (up to a million total) for every reaction, comment, and share of their DiaperGap post.
Last weekend, President Obama’s DiaperGap team held a Q&A on the PopSugarMoms Facebook page.
Here, the DiaperGap team fielded questions about the program’s sustainability (yes, it’s designed to be ongoing), how a family in need can access the program (click here to find a diaper bank near you), and why President Obama doesn’t simply encourage cloth diapers for low-income families.
That last one may be the most complex, but the DiaperGap team explained why it is important.
“For many low-income families, cloth diapers aren’t a solution. In particular, cloth diapers don’t work for families who lack a washer and dryer in their home. Also, only a few laundry mats allow you to wash cloth diapers. Many low-income families need disposables to send their kids to daycare or school — many of these programs are unwilling to use or change cloth diapers.”
While the DiaperGap initiative President Obama has promoted isn’t a government program, some have been proposed, such as a bill introduced to Congress in November that would help provide diapers to families deemed eligible.
[Photo by Neilson Barnard/Getty Images][/caption]
