Boston Council Explores Menstrual Product Vending Pilot Costing Up to $125,000

BOSTON — April 4, 2023 — Boston City Council committee hears call for $125,000 menstrual product vending pilot across five city locations. The Committee on Public Health, Homelessness, Recovery and Mental Health, chaired by Councilor Erin J. Murphy, held a hearing Tuesday on Docket 0148, filed by Councilors Gabriela Coletta Zapata, Ruthzee Louijeune, and Ricardo Arroyo, focusing on ways to combat period poverty citywide. Alexandra Valdez, Executive Director of the Mayor's Office of Women's Advancement, said her office has reviewed vending machine costs ranging from $8,000 to $10,000 per unit and smaller dispensers at $700 to $800, with Coletta Zapata estimating a five-location pilot at up to $125,000 including products and education programming. MassNow Executive Director Sasha Goodfriend testified that 21 states have already enacted menstrual access legislation and that Boston trails cities including Cambridge, Brookline, and Somerville within Massachusetts alone, warning that janitors' union contracts in Boston — unlike in Fall River — do not currently include restocking dispensers, adding a separate budget line the city must address. Valdez disclosed that the Office of Women's Advancement is operating with only three staff members, two positions unfilled, as the office pursues the pilot in the approaching FY24 budget cycle.