Recognizing NDNAW Three Years Later: Diaper Need Is An Ongoing Issue That Needs a Systemic Solution

To: NYC Leadership

In honor of National Diaper Need Awareness Week (NDNAW), we at the Brooklyn Diaper Project would like to ask that you please consider renewing your commitment to NYC families with bold, actionable, creative steps forward.

We are grateful for our continued partnership with the nonprofit organizations whose families we support. Since our founding in 2020, we have distributed almost 400,000 diapers to NYC families. As we approach NDNAW, we stand in deep concern that there is no end in sight to this urgent issue. Quite simply, we could bankrupt our entire project tomorrow by purchasing diapers for families, and it wouldn't even begin to scratch the surface of what's urgently needed. Nonprofits rely on grants and donations to provide the very basics for NYC families: this is a broken cycle, and we stand in acknowledgment that real solutions require active partnership with all of you.

We are occasionally approached by NYC leaders who want to help support the families in their districts by helping them secure available diapers. Other times, we are asked to host baby showers to help support their constituents. The reality is that there are often no available diapers to point families toward. All of the diapers we distribute to our five partners get distributed to waiting families in need within their communities networks--usually the same day. There is no publicly available resource for diapers that we know of that could meet ALL the needs of families in NYC today.

For NDNAW, we call on NYC leaders to acknowledge that diaper need is too systemic and serious of an issue for any nonprofit or diaper bank to try and solve alone - that more must be done- and city leaders hold real potential in solving this systemic issue. We appreciate the chance to speak with you about how we can work toward solving this insurmountable problem that families face - one of physical health (hospitalizations/infections, dehydrating babies to stretch time between diaper changes), mental health (caregiver wellbeing), criminal (families who must choose between stealing diapers or choosing between food/diapers in their grocery carts), educational (lost time that children cannot attend daycare or school without an adequate diaper supply).

My vision for NYC is to manufacture low-cost diapers for cost-free distribution to NYC families. This is the only viable solution that we see forward to end diaper need in NYC. Diaper banks will never be enough. But I can't do it alone. I need the support of city leadership as I work to get more diapers into the hands of NYC families.

Thank you for your time and all you do for NYC families. I welcome the chance to connect further.
Sincerely,
Wendy Moore
Executive director, Brooklyn Diaper Project