The PATESI Foundation Awarded 9/11 Day Youth Service Grant to Launch Districts for Dignity™
Youth-led initiative will unite local high school students in service to advance menstrual and postpartum equity in honor of the 25th anniversary of September 11
MONTGOMERY COUNTY, MD - September 2026 - The PATESI Foundation, Inc. is proud to announce that it has been awarded a 9/11 Day Youth Service Grant to launch Districts for Dignity™, an innovative youth-led service initiative bringing students together across school communities to address menstrual and postpartum inequity through education, advocacy, and direct service.
The initiative will take place on September 11, 2026, as communities across the nation commemorate the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks through service.
In the aftermath of September 11, 2001, Americans responded to tragedy with extraordinary acts of compassion, unity, and service. Districts for Dignity™ seeks to introduce a new generation of young people to that same spirit; giving students an opportunity to honor the day not only by remembering, but by serving.
“Districts for Dignity is about showing young people that they do not have to wait until adulthood to make a difference,” said Yvonne Esipila Patron, CEO & Co-Founder of The PATESI Foundation, Inc. “Twenty-five years after 9/11, we have an opportunity to teach a generation of students about what happened that day while also showing them one of the most powerful parts of its legacy: the way people came together afterward. Through service, our students can carry that spirit forward while addressing needs that affect people in their own communities.”
Districts for Dignity™ transforms schools into hubs of service, awareness, and youth leadership. In the weeks leading up to September 11, participating students will work alongside Youth Ambassadors to educate their peers about menstrual and postpartum equity, create awareness materials, organize donation efforts, and mobilize their school communities.
On September 11, school teams will come together for the culminating Districts for Dignity™ Day of Service. The evening will begin with a Menstrual & Postpartum Equity Walk/Parade, followed by a spirited school competition in which students will assemble emergency menstrual kits for distribution to individuals and community organizations in need.
Each school will have its own Districts for Dignity team, creating a friendly competition that celebrates not only speed and achievement, but also service, character, teamwork, advocacy, and impact. Official verifiers will confirm completed kits while judges visit school tables and speak directly with students about what they learned and what participating in Districts for Dignity™ has meant to them.
The school assembling the greatest number of qualifying kits will receive the Districts for Dignity Traveling Cup, a championship trophy that will return each year to be defended by the winning school. But service is about more than numbers. The Heart of Dignity Award will recognize the school team whose students demonstrate exceptional character, purpose, teamwork, and a meaningful understanding of the people their service is intended to support. Judges will also recognize student advocacy through an awareness poster board competition.
Emergency menstrual kits assembled through the initiative will support community partners, including organizations serving children and families experiencing foster care, homelessness, economic hardship, and other circumstances that can make access to basic dignity products difficult.
Districts for Dignity™ also intentionally brings boys and young men into the conversation, reinforcing the PATESI Foundation's belief that menstrual and postpartum equity are community issues; not issues that girls and women should be expected to address alone.
The initiative builds upon the PATESI Foundation's broader work to alleviate period and postpartum bleeding poverty through education, community engagement, and access to no-cost, high-quality menstrual and maternity products. For PATESI, the September 11 project is also an investment in the next generation of civic leaders.
Students are not simply volunteering at an event. They are recruiting their peers, creating awareness campaigns, organizing their schools, learning about community needs, tracking service hours, representing their districts, and seeing firsthand what becomes possible when young people organize around a shared purpose.
“Long after the last kit is assembled, we want these young people to remember that they were capable of mobilizing their peers and responding to a real community need,” Esipila Patron said. “That is how service becomes leadership. And that is how remembrance becomes action.”
About The PATESI Foundation, Inc.
The PATESI Foundation, Inc. is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing education and support to empower communities and alleviate period and postpartum bleeding poverty by providing access to no-cost, high-quality, and appropriate menstrual and maternity products. Through education, advocacy, partnerships, youth engagement, and direct product distribution, PATESI works to ensure that dignity is not determined by a person's income or circumstances.
About Districts for Dignity™
Districts for Dignity™ is the PATESI Foundation's youth-led service and leadership initiative that mobilizes students and school communities around menstrual and postpartum equity. Through education, advocacy, donation drives, community service, and friendly school competition, students learn that meaningful civic engagement can begin wherever they are.
