Miami Dade County WIC, FL
The Florida Department of Health Miami-Dade WIC Program has the largest WIC participation in Florida, serving roughly 64,000 participants per month. Even so, there has been a significant decline in participants over the past five years. Miami-Dade County WIC’s administrative data show that participation decreases after children turn one and continues to steadily decline after age two. Reasons for participants dropping off early include concerns related to citizenship/residency requirements and lack of knowledge of important aspects of WIC such as shopping with WIC benefits and eligibility requirements.
Meet the Miami-Dade County HPRIL Team
 Eriko Robinson |
 Carla Sabugo |
 Carol Crisafi |
To address their retention and recruitment challenges, the Miami-Dade County WIC Program is implementing an integrated media marketing strategy that digitally targets participants and potential participants with display ads, posts and videos using precise geographical location (geo-location) technology and customized messaging for their target population. The overall goal is to enhance the image of WIC benefits and address barriers to continued participation. Miami-Dade County WIC is working with Foundry 360, a national media company that also runs the National WIC Association’s Recruitment and Retention Campaign.
The target audience for this intervention includes mothers and family members currently receiving WIC benefits and potentially eligible mothers/family members of children aged 1-3 years of age. Messages are culturally and socially relevant to current barriers to participation. In addition, the tool provides brand awareness, specifically to promote WIC services, eligibility and benefits after infancy. Social media posts, YouTube videos, and other advertisements are continually updated and strategically deployed based on what performs well according to Google analytics.
To evaluate the effectiveness of this integrated media marketing strategy in achieving their project goals, Miami-Dade County WIC is utilizing a quasi-experimental design. Two of their clinics are receiving the intervention, while eleven of their clinics are serving as control sites. The outcome evaluation will answer such questions as, “Did the integrated media marketing strategy contribute to improved retention, participation, and enrollment rates of children in the intervention sites as compared to the control sites?”
To learn more about Miami-Dade WIC’s HPRIL project, please contact Eriko Robinson at Eriko.robinson@flhealth.gov.
IN THEIR OWN WORDS…
What has been the most exciting thing to date about your project?
We are now the only local health department [in Florida] with local Facebook and Instagram [pages]… specifically approved for Miami-Dade WIC for this project.
What has been most valuable for you from HPRIL’s training and technical assistance?
Just the guidance—this is something we would not be able to do on our own. We have some experience with quality improvement projects but not research projects.