The USDA has awarded roughly $53 million across three grants to the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). The initiative was funded by the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.
The investments will help WIC reach more eligible mothers and young children and improve the service they receive throughout the program, setting them up for healthy outcomes while helping to reduce disparities in maternal and child health.
“WIC is an incredibly powerful public health program, with strong, proven benefits for participants, so we’ve got to do all we can to connect eligible mothers, infants, and children to the program and provide them with a positive, meaningful experience,” said agriculture secretary Tom Vilsack in a statement. “These grants build on the USDA’s extensive efforts to strengthen the WIC program, make it easier and more convenient for participants, and use data and feedback from stakeholders to fulfill our commitment to serve them well.”
USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service awarded the following grants to improve participants’ outreach and program experience:
• $20 million to the Food Research & Action Center to provide funds to WIC state and local agencies, community organizations, and other nonprofits to use community-level data to test new ways of delivering WIC messaging and outreach.
• $23 million to 66 WIC state agencies to improve technology and service delivery in WIC.
• $10 million in grants to 19 WIC state agencies to improve the shopping experience through modernizing in-store shopping – responding to feedback from WIC participants – and working toward online shopping.
The FNS also entered a contract for the development and implementation of a strategic national outreach campaign to increase enrollment and retention in WIC while reducing program access and delivery disparities.
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