More college officials and state lawmakers are addressing this once-taboo issue. Some colleges already provided free menstrual products for students, and many are increasingly being required by law to do so. “Period poverty,” a lack of access to or inability to afford menstrual products, was something Elizabeth Blumberg had not heard people discuss until she attended a student government meeting at MassBay Community College in 2019. “I go to their meetings throughout the year. One of the questions that I ask is ‘What’s working, what’s not working?’” said Blumberg, vice president of student development at the college. “When we talked about what’s not working, period poverty was brought up. It was the first time I’d heard people talk about it.”