Two-year grant designed to understand and reduce barriers to WIC enrollment and participation
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The National WIC Association (NWA), the nonprofit education and advocacy voice for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC), has received a two-year, $1.6 million grant to improve the WIC participant experience. Known as Advancing Health Equity to Achieve Diversity & Inclusion in WIC (AHEAD) 3.0, the project will enhance understanding of and address barriers to WIC participation, particularly for Black, Brown and Indigenous families.
The grant will fund a series of NWA actions designed to center and understand the WIC participant experience, and explore how those might differ for Black, Brown, and Indigenous participants and other disadvantaged, under-resourced communities. The projects includes creating a Journey Map to identify successful participant experiences and key pain points in enrollment, participation, retention, and service delivery; developing recommendations and identify promising practices to address barriers and challenges that State and Local Agencies can implement; redesign NWA’s Participant Advisory Council to include Black, Brown, Indigenous, and geographically diverse WIC participants to provide direct feedback on their experience, and share their expertise and recommendations to help inform NWA’s priorities for increasing enrollment and retention, and participant satisfaction ; and conduct a 2025 WIC Multi-State Participant Satisfaction Survey, which will analyze results by race and ethnicity and build upon the 2023 survey, which included more than 38,000 participants across 19 states, one Indian Tribal organization and one territory.
“WIC has transformed the lives of women and families for 50 years, but there’s more we can do to help WIC realize its full potential. That starts with ensuring everyone eligible for the program has access and every participant has the best possible experience,” said Georgia Machell, NWA president and CEO. “We deeply appreciate the Walmart Foundation for investing in our mission to make WIC even stronger in the years ahead.”
WIC serves more than 6.8 million women, infants, and children as of September 2024, but a recent report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) found that only 54% of people eligible for the program participate. The USDA report shows that coverage rates include less than 60% of eligible American Indian/Alaska Native individuals and less than 50% of Black individuals.
The grant will support NWA’s Center for Innovative Practices in WIC (CIP-WIC), which launched in 2023 to “offer NWA members, WIC partners, and stakeholders technical assistance and expertise, elevate promising practices from the field, and foster explicit communities of practice within the WIC community.” CIP-WIC principles include diversifying and strengthening the WIC workforce; centering racial and health equity and participant experience in WIC service delivery; and driving program innovation through technology and research to enhance participant experience, health outcomes, recruitment, and retention.
“Having an intimate understanding of what matters most to WIC participants isn’t just a professional obligation; as a former WIC participant myself, it’s also a personal mission,” said Stacy Davis, CIP-WIC director. “NWA’s commitment to making WIC work for all current and future participants is second to none, and this grant will help us improve a critically important program that helps millions of families every day.”