MORE WIC! Project Awards Grants to Five State Agencies to Streamline WIC Enrollment in the U.S.
The grants include technical support to help agencies identify individuals eligible for WIC, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children
The MORE WIC! project is excited to announce the awarding of funds to five WIC State agencies across the United States to streamline WIC enrollment. In addition to funding, MORE WIC will provide technical support to help the agencies coordinate with Medicaid or SNAP to identify individuals in those programs who are eligible for but not currently participating in WIC. Once identified, WIC will conduct outreach to encourage enrollment.
WIC is the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children and provides supplemental nutritious foods, nutrition education, breastfeeding support and referrals to at-risk pregnant, postpartum and breastfeeding women, infants and children to the age of 5 years. MORE WIC! is a cooperative agreement between the United States Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service (USDA/FNS) and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (BSPH) with support from the National WIC Association (NWA).
The following WIC State agencies were awarded for projects up to $400,000 over a 30-month performance period: Mississippi State Department of Health WIC; Connecticut WIC; Inter-tribal Council of Arizona (ITCA); Inter-tribal Council of Nevada (ITCN); Washington DC WIC.
“Our team is excited to be working with these WIC State agencies as part of the larger WIC Modernization Strategy. We are also available to provide technical assistance to all WIC State agencies wanting to advance on this approach to streamlined enrollment in WIC,” says Laura Caulfield, PhD, Principal Investigator of MORE WIC! and Professor of Nutrition at the Bloomberg School.
More information about the Awardees
Mississippi State Department of Health WIC
The Mississippi Department of Health WIC Program has 16 local agencies serving approximately 60,000 WIC participants monthly – 40% of all those eligible for WIC services. More than half of Mississippi residents live in rural areas, which creates unique barriers to participation. Through this project, Mississippi WIC aims to identify eligible unenrolled individuals by pursuing a data sharing agreement with Medicaid and developing targeted, culturally tailored outreach text messages with guidance from an advisory council.
Connecticut WIC
Connecticut WIC serves over 50,000 clients per month, with a coverage rate of approximately 47% of the eligible population. The project will pursue data sharing agreements with both SNAP and Medicaid and implement a phased approach to data matching and outreach, initially focusing on pregnant women and then expanding to include children. An advisory council will guide the development of culturally appropriate outreach text and social media messages, especially for populations with limited English proficiency. Connecticut WIC participants have reported speaking at least 40 different languages, with Spanish the most common, spoken among 25% of those enrolled.
Inter Tribal Council of Arizona, Inc. (ITCA) WIC
The Inter Tribal Council of Arizona, Inc. (ITCA) administers WIC with services provided by 11 local agencies on Tribal lands and one urban American Indian Health Center. ITCA WIC has a data sharing agreement with the Arizona Department of Economic Security to receive monthly files with SNAP participant data for matching and outreach. Families identified from the lists are sent an outreach text message and the data is uploaded into an online pre-application form for additional follow-up with a phone call directly by staff. This project will build on current activities by testing and comparing new outreach strategies guided by an advisory council, as well as by pursuing a data sharing agreement with Medicaid to assess the feasibility of a three-way match of Medicaid, SNAP and WIC data. ITCA will also contract with Arizona State University to expand innovation and evaluation of outreach.
The Inter-Tribal Council of Nevada (ITCN) WIC
The Inter-Tribal Council of Nevada (ITCN) WIC serves a diverse population across 28 Tribal reservations in Nevada. Over the last decade, enrollment in the ITCN WIC program has declined considerably, especially in remote areas. The focus of this project is therefore to enhance awareness and access to WIC across the 28 reservations, with a focus on the most remote service areas. ITCN WIC will pursue data sharing agreements with both SNAP and Medicaid to identify eligible unenrolled individuals and families. With guidance from an advisory council, they will test the effectiveness of culturally tailored outreach through direct mail, phone, text, e-mail, supported by in-person community engagement events with mobile units.
Washington, DC WIC
The District of Columbia WIC Program serves over 8,000 households with around 14,000 enrolled individuals. The program faces significant gaps in coverage in underserved areas with large Black and Hispanic populations. The data matching plan builds on DC WIC’s previous success with TANF data sharing, which identified over 7,000 eligible but unenrolled families. The project will extend these efforts to Medicaid by formalizing data sharing agreements, streamlining the certification process, and enhancing outreach through targeted communication. Specific objectives include implementing a monthly data matching protocol, forming a community advisory group to guide outreach strategies, and testing personalized outreach methods like social media, text messaging and email.