Lots of Americans can’t afford diapers, but the White House has a fascinating solution.

    
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How distributors, manufacturers, and the White House are working together for good.

Lots of Americans can’t afford diapers, but the White House has a fascinating solution.

There’s a big diaper problem in America that no one’s really talking about.

Image via Jet/YouTube.

Nearly 1 out of every 3 families in the United States report they often can’t afford to buy diapers when they need them, the White House states. Plus, low-income households end up spending nearly twice as much on diapers as middle-class folks because they don’t have access to bulk stores that charge less overall for diapers.

This means that every day, millions of American families come face to face with a question that no one should have to ask: "Should I buy diapers for my child or food for my family?"

This reality has led to what politicians are calling the "diaper gap" — a widening gap between folks who can afford the diapers their babies need and folks who can’t.

Unlike other essentials like food and health care, the government doesn’t offer federal assistance to low-income households for diaper purchases. Because of this, low-income families end up spending an average $936 per child per year on diapers alone, which means moms end up keeping their babies in dirty diapers longer to save money, too. Research published in Pediatrics shows doing this can lead to diaper rash, infections, and even permanent scarring.

Good news, though: Our good old government has a plan.

Image via Jet/YouTube.

This is where things get kind of unusual: Enter Jet.com.

The White House started the conversation with Jet.com, a discount wholesale website, in the most public way they could — via Twitter. It was important for the White House to come clean about this longstanding problem and to make it known publicly they needed assistance from the greater community to find a solution.

Then Jet.com proposed some solutions, but they realized they had to start with bringing in a manufacturing partner to help make more affordable diapers a sustainable reality. Enter Cuties diapers.

Cuties discovered that the key to making diapers cheaper wasn’t even about cutting corners in diaper quality, but rather creating more efficient packaging.

Image via Jet/YouTube.

So they looked into cutting down on packaging and even found ways to fit more diapers into each package. Eventually they came up with some great ideas, and Jet took it from there.

Together with the White House, Jet.com set up a system that allowed any nonprofit to apply to procure drastically discounted diapers.

Image via Jet/YouTube.

They launched the program on March 10, 2016, with the goal of spreading the initiative nationwide through the tributaries of smaller, charitable organizations.

"We’re really just trying to broaden the network of organizations who think about delivering diapers to the families they already serve," Dana Hork, director of brand experience at Jet.com, said in a documentary interview.

Here’s how much cheaper Jet was able to make their diapers (with Cuties’ help, of course):

Image via Jet/YouTube.

For an enrolled nonprofit, that price comes down again to just 13 cents per diaper. That means people will end up paying approximately one-fourth of what they used to!

This program has the potential to shrink the diaper gap to nothing, which is a big deal.

According to the National Diaper Bank Network, the program should help distribute at least 10 to 15 million diapers to families who need them this year. While this may not be a permanent solution to the problem, it’s a heck of a good start.

It’s easy to get down on the government for not doing their job (especially these days).

Image via Jet/YouTube.

But this all happened because the White House asked the community for help, which is pretty cool. When you see collaborative initiatives like this, you realize there are some wonderful things being accomplished in our government — you just have to look for them.

Amazon

Amazon Climate Pledge Friendly

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New Amazon badge helps you discover and shop for more sustainable products

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Increasingly customers are looking for more conscious shopping options. According to a Nielsen survey in 2018, nearly half (48%) of U.S. consumers say they would definitely or probably change their consumption habits to reduce their impact on the environment.

But while many consumers are interested in spending their money on products that are more sustainable, few actually follow through. An article in the 2019 issue of Harvard Business Review revealed that 65% of consumers said they want to buy purpose-driven brands that advocate sustainability, but only about 26% actually do so. It's unclear where this intention gap comes from, but thankfully it's getting more convenient to shop sustainably from many of the retailers you already support.

Amazon recently introduced Climate Pledge Friendly, "a new program to help make it easy for customers to discover and shop for more sustainable products." When you're browsing Amazon, a Climate Pledge Friendly label will appear on more than 45,000 products to signify they have one or more different sustainability certifications which "help preserve the natural world, reducing the carbon footprint of shipments to customers," according to the online retailer.

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In order to distinguish more sustainable products, the program partnered with a wide range of external certifications, including governmental agencies, non-profits, and independent laboratories, all of which have a focus on preserving the natural world.

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Dr. Fauci sounds downright thrilled to do his job without battling anti-science propaganda

ABC News/Twitter, Randy Rainbow/Twitter

Of the millions of Americans breathing a sigh of relief with the ushering in of a new president, one man has a particularly personal and professional reason to exhale.

Dr. Anthony Fauci has spent a good portion of his long, respected career preparing for a pandemic, and unfortunately, the worst one in 100 years hit under the worst possible administration. As part of Trump's Coronavirus Task Force, Dr. Fauci did what he could to advise the president and share information with the public, but it's been clear for months that the job was made infinitely more difficult than it should have been by anti-science forces within the administration.

To his credit, Dr. Fauci remained politically neutral through it all this past year, totally in keeping with his consistently non-partisan, apolitical approach to his job. Even when the president badmouthed him, blocked him from testifying before the House, and kept him away from press briefings, Fauci took the high road, always keeping his commentary focused on the virus and refusing to step into the political fray.

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P&G Good Everyday

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Meet the people infusing their communities with love and support when it’s needed most

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If the past year has taught us nothing else, it's that sending love out into the world through selfless acts of kindness can have a positive ripple effect on people and communities. People all over the United States seemed to have gotten the message — 71% of those surveyed by the World Giving Index helped a stranger in need in 2020. A nonprofit survey found 90% helped others by running errands, calling, texting and sending care packages. Many people needed a boost last year in one way or another and obliging good neighbors heeded the call over and over again — and continue to make a positive impact through their actions in this new year.

Upworthy and P&G Good Everyday wanted to help keep kindness going strong, so they partnered up to create the Lead with Love Fund. The fund awards do-gooders in communities around the country with grants to help them continue on with their unique missions. Hundreds of nominations came pouring in and five winners were selected based on three criteria: the impact of action, uniqueness, and "Upworthy-ness" of their story.

Here's a look at the five winners:

Edith Ornelas, co-creator of Mariposas Collective in Memphis, Tenn.

Edith Ornelas has a deep-rooted connection to the asylum-seeking immigrant families she brings food and supplies to families in Memphis, Tenn. She was born in Jalisco, Mexico, and immigrated to the United States when she was 7 years old with her parents and sister. Edith grew up in Chicago, then moved to Memphis in 2016, where she quickly realized how few community programs existed for immigrants. Two years later, she helped create Mariposas Collective, which initially aimed to help families who had just been released from detention centers and were seeking asylum. The collective started out small but has since grown to approximately 400 volunteers.