WIC at 50: A nutrition lifeline looks to expand reach and modernize services

For 50 years, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) has been a vital pillar of U.S. public health, helping millions of mothers, infants, and children at nutritional risk. Today, the program serves approximately 6.7 million mothers and children each month.

As the nation’s first “food as medicine” program, WIC has a strong track record of improving pregnancy outcomes, increasing breastfeeding rates, and strengthening child nutrition. But as WIC celebrates a half-century of success, the organization is also seeking to evolve and respond to modern challenges, including conservative lawmakers who are increasingly intent on cutting funding to federal nutrition programs.

The group’s new2024 State of WIC Report: Celebrating 50 Years of ImpactThe Program Plan to 2020, released this week, outlines an ambitious roadmap for future success and highlights key areas for improvement, including modernizing technology, strengthening outreach to eligible families and sustaining program funding.

In an interview with Salon Food, National WIC Association President Georgia Machel discussed the report’s most urgent recommendations, including making remote services and online ordering a permanent feature, as well as the challenges of expanding access to underrepresented communities and the important policy steps needed to secure WIC’s future.

This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

One of the most interesting recommendations in the report (and one that may surprise people) is an effort to modernize technology related to WIC, including making online ordering and virtual enrollment options permanent. Can you talk a little bit about why this recommendation was made and the benefits and challenges of modernizing the program?

Yes, that’s correct. I think this is a great question to start with. I think we need to pause for a moment and reflect on what’s happened within the WIC program and in society at large over the past few years. I think the pandemic has provided an opportunity for the WIC program to reflect on how WIC services are being delivered to participants and what participants need to improve their experience.

We think one of the ways we think about improving the experience of WIC participants at every stage of their WIC journey is by providing more choice and flexibility. We think that no matter who you are, where you are, what you’re doing, if you have more choice and flexibility, your experience is more likely to be a positive one. Our ultimate goal here is to ensure that people who are eligible for WIC participate and stay participating as long as they’re eligible.

With technology, there are a lot of opportunities to think about increasing access to programs. Two that have come up in recent years have been around remote attestation during the pandemic, and flexibility was provided for WIC agencies to do remote attestation. What we found in a survey of about 40,000 WIC participants was that [they] I really like that you have the option to basically participate in the program virtually and have other parts of the program run virtually as well.

For example, one of the great services that WIC provides is nutrition education, so we’ve seen a lot of innovation in that area, including ways to get people involved in that program and breastfeeding support.

You mentioned online ordering, and for us, this is something that we’ve known for a while that the shopping experience with WIC can be really challenging. This can be one of the pain points of participating in the program. So it seems like it would make sense for people who are on WIC to shop the same way that a lot of other people shop for groceries in general.

There are a number of pilot projects currently underway exploring ways to make WIC online shopping available to participants across the country, and we are excited to see how those pilots turn out.

That makes a lot of sense. In terms of accessibility, can you elaborate on the strategies that WIC is using to increase enrollment, especially in communities that may have barriers to accessing the program?

It is important to recognize that, despite 50 years of evidence on the impact of WIC, only 53 percent of eligible people actually participate in the program today, so there is no doubt that we need to increase participation.

There are a number of different efforts underway to support that. From the National WIC perspective, first and foremost, we want to make sure that the program has the funding it needs to reach everyone who is eligible. We want to make sure that funding is available, that Congress appropriates the appropriate amount, and that states can implement programs that allow them to provide WIC services as needed. From a funding perspective, we will always want to make sure that WIC has the resources it needs to serve eligible families.

I think there’s also a lot of innovation in this space around outreach and how it’s done. It all comes down to a focus on access to WIC and meeting participants where they are. That means considering how people in the demographic who would participate in WIC would receive other information. For example, we run recruitment and retention campaigns, and we’ve found that using platforms like TikTok and other social media is very effective in reaching participants. It’s also important to make sure the information provided about WIC is accurate.

We also know from the research we’ve conducted that WIC food packages are a great motivator for participation. The changes to the WIC food package final rule announced earlier this year will be invaluable in attracting eligible people to the program. Participants have appreciated the increased amount of fruits and vegetables available through WIC, and we are pleased to see these changes become permanent.

Ultimately, it comes down to how WIC communicates the services it provides in a way that is appealing to participants and reflects the full range of services the program provides.

You mentioned funding, and when I talk to food security advocates, that always seems to be one of the key components to making the program work, right? So what do you think are the most important funding or policy steps that lawmakers can take to ensure the stability and future of the program?

Well, I think there are three key points here: First, make sure the program is adequately funded, which is very important.

Second, it is important to ensure that modernizations like those implemented during the pandemic are approved and maintained. These flexibilities are critical, and we do not want to backtrack when it comes to modernization. Please note that most people who currently participate in WIC only know the program with these changes in effect, so our focus must be on maintaining these enhancements to the WIC participant experience.

The third important point is that we need to ensure adequate funding and keep an eye on legislative riders that could delay the implementation of the final rules of the food package. The states that we represent, and those who work with the WIC program at both the state and local levels, are already in the process of implementing these changes. We do not want this process to be delayed any longer. The last review of the food package was completed in 2017, and we are now in 2024. So now is finally the time to begin making these changes. We cannot waste any time in implementing these changes.

There has been a bit of a “time gap” during the pandemic, so it’s easy to forget that so much time has passed.

Yes! There was.

It’s really important that we move forward with changes that will significantly improve the experience of WIC participants, and one thing that we’re very grateful for is the expansion of whole grain options, for example, and the inclusion of more culturally specific foods that weren’t previously included in food packages.

We want to empower people to customize food packaging to fit their needs, rather than fitting into pre-designed packaging. Get it?

Well, I think there’s a lot of harmful rhetoric swirling around about the effectiveness of federal nutrition programs like WIC and SNAP as it relates to funding. From your perspective, what misconceptions do you think still persist about WIC as a program, and how do you think they can be countered?

Well, I think there are a lot of misconceptions about the services that WIC provides. For example, I want every American to know that WIC provides the highest quality breastfeeding support to all eligible participants. There’s a real lack of understanding about the breadth of services that WIC provides.

In addition to breastfeeding support, there’s also nutrition education. I’ve looked at some of the focus group data, and participants said this education is really important to them feeling comfortable and confident preparing the foods they buy with their WIC benefits.

So the misconception about WIC is really about the broad range of services that the program provides. Beyond the specific services, there’s a huge impact that WIC has on families. We hear more and more about how WIC helps to help families feel supported during difficult times in their lives, but I think this is a very important aspect of the program and shouldn’t be underestimated.