This week, starting September 15th, is Diaper Need Awareness Week. To learn more about diaper need in California, see our blog post from February: “The Diaper Difference – Spotlight on Diaper Need in California.”
To be a part of fulfilling the mass need, the California Community Action Partnership Association (CalCAPA) applied and received the Diaper Distribution Demonstration Research Pilot (DDDRP) program. The DDDRP is federally funded by the Office of Community Services (OCS), with pilot programs in many states across the country working to address diaper need uniquely in each of their communities.
In California, CalCAPA partnered with SupplyBank.org to purchase and deliver diapers to four Community Action Agencies across the state: Community Action Partnership of Kern County, Merced County Community Action Agency, Sonoma Community Action Network, and Urban Services Y-Community Action Agency.
The California DDDRP began distributing diapers in November 2023, with an original end date of April 2025. During that time, CalCAPA’s partners distributed over 1.1 million diapers to 2,383 children. Our data suggests that enrolled children will receive diapers for an average of 5-6 months, before moving on either due to their families increased resources, the child reaching potty-training age, or moving out of the service area.
This particular model uses routine diaper distribution as a touchpoint for development for the whole family versus larger mass distribution point. This ongoing interaction reaps impact beyond just the child receiving diapers. Agencies use Whole Family Well-Being Assessments to determine other areas of need for families. Seventy-five percent of families receiving diapers also received some other wraparound service through the DDDRP, including but not limited to housing and utility assistance, transportation services, food and clothing distribution, early childhood education, and employment services.
Insuring additional services is just the first step. What changes for a family once they are able to access these additional opportunities? Family Assessments taken six months after enrollment compared to their initial results show that DDDRP services improved well-being for families across all 11 measured domains: diapers, food and nutrition, housing, energy/utilities, healthcare, behavioral health/disabilities, transportation, childcare, education, employment, and income management. The improvement across all categories was statistically significant at greater than 99% confidence.
Many factors could be contributing to this. First, the alleviation of the cost burden itself, with diapers expected to cost upwards of $1,000 per year per child in 2025. Anna Saavedra, the supervisor at East Kern Family Resource Center, when asked how this program has impacted her clients emotional and mental well-being, said they expressed feeling “relief that they’re able to go home and know that they have diapers for their children.” One mother who received diapers through the program wrote: “thank you for making a change in my life,” emphasizing how much this program has helped her family.
Second, are the other outcomes related to alleviating diaper need: ability for parents to go to work, better access to childcare, physically healthier babies. Alleviating this need can further economic mobility for families who can increase employment opportunities and decrease other healthcare costs. Another family noted how important it was for them to get help with diapers, as it allows them to bring their daughter to childcare so they can go to work.
Finally, are all of the other wraparound services provided at DDDRP agencies. By taking a Whole Family Approach, the DDDRP is more than just a diaper distribution program, it’s a well-rounded support program for all struggling families. One especially inspiring story came out of San Francisco. A father was laid off from his company and for a while, the family relied on unemployment assistance, but eventually thanks to employment support services offered through the DDDRP, he found a new full time job. The family says: “Thank you for all your help. The diapers helped me so much when I couldn’t afford all our expenses. I am so excited to start my new job.” He has since started his new job, and his daughter is potty training, so their diaper need was completely eliminated by the DDDRP, with the family reaching self-sufficiency.
As the cost of living and the price of basic necessities continue to increase for low-income families, programs like the DDDRP are more vital than ever. CalCAPA is incredibly proud to be the state partner for the DDDRP and of our agencies across the state working to alleviate diaper need in their communities. With our funding extended to April 2026, we look forward to continuing to serve Kern, Merced, San Francisco, and Sonoma Counties.
If you have any programmatic questions about the California DDDRP or would like to request more data or information, please contact Jillian Keegan at jkeegan@calcapa.org.
If you or someone you know needs diaper resources, please visit one of the four Community Action Agencies below, or your local diaper bank.
Community Action Partnership of Kern County
- Oasis Family Resource Center, 814 N Norma St, Ridgecrest, CA 93555
- East Kern Family Resource Center, 15662 K St, Mojave, CA 93501
Merced County Community Action Agency
- Dos Palos WIC, 1607 Center Ave, Dos Palos, CA 93620
Sonoma Community Action Network
- 2250 Northpoint Pkwy, Santa Rosa, CA 95407
Urban Services Y-Community Action Agency
- 1530 Buchanan Street, San Francisco, CA, 94115