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 public health in the United States, supporting millions of nutritionally at-risk mothers, infants and children. Right now, the program reaches about 6.7 million mothers and children each month. 

As the nation’s first "Food as Medicine" program, WIC has a proven track record of improving pregnancy outcomes, increasing breastfeeding rates and enhancing child nutrition. However, as WIC celebrates its half-century of success, the organization is also looking to evolve and address modern challenges, including conservative lawmakers becoming increasingly intent on cutting the funding of federal nutrition programs. 

The group’s new “2024 State of WIC Report: Celebrating 50 Years of Impact,” released this week, outlines an ambitious roadmap for future success, highlighting key areas for improvement, including the modernization of technology, increased outreach to eligible families and sustained program funding.

Georgia Machell, the president of the National WIC Association, spoke with Salon Food about some of the most pressing recommendations from the report, such as the push to make remote services and online ordering a permanent feature. She also discussed the challenges of expanding access to underrepresented communities and the crucial policy actions needed to ensure 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 might surprise people — is this push to modernize the technology associated with WIC, like making online orders and virtual enrollment options permanent. I was hoping you could talk a bit about why that recommendation was made, as well as some of the promises and challenges of modernizing the program? 

Yes, absolutely. I think that’s a great question to start with, and I think we have to take a few steps back and look at the past few years and everything that’s happened within the WIC program, and then also just within society generally. I think the pandemic really lit a fire under the WIC program to think about how WIC services were being provided to participants, and what participants needed to enhance that experience. 

I think one of the ways we think about improving the WIC participant experience at any point in the WIC participant journey is by increasing choice and flexibility. I think for any person — anywhere, doing anything — if you have more choice and flexibility in an experience, it’s more likely to be a positive one. Our ultimate goal here is to make sure that folks who are eligible for WIC are participating and continue to participate as long as they are eligible. 

So, with technology, there are lots of opportunities to think about increasing access to the program. A couple of the things that have come up in the last few years are really around remote certifications during the pandemic, when flexibilities were put in place to allow WIC agencies to do remote certifications. What we found through survey work that we’ve done with almost 40,000 WIC participants is that [they] really like having the option to basically join the program virtually and do other aspects of the program virtually, as well. 

For example, one of the amazing services WIC provides is nutrition education, so we’ve seen a lot more innovation in that space in the way folks can engage with that program, also with breastfeeding support, as well. 

You mentioned online ordering and I think, for us, this is something where we’ve known for a while that the WIC shopping experience can be really hard. It can be one of the pain points of participating in the program. So, it seems reasonable that folks who are participating in WIC can shop in the way that a lot of other folks shop, generally, for their foods. 

Right now, there’s a number of pilots in the field that are looking at ways to make WIC online shopping a reality for participants across the country, so we’re really excited to see where those pilots lead. 

That makes a lot of sense. On the note of accessibility, could you expand on some of the strategies WIC is using to increase enrollment, specifically among communities where there might feel like there are barriers to access programming? 

It's important to kind of recognize that despite there being 50 years of evidence on the impact of WIC, only 53% of eligible people are actually currently participating in the program. So, there is definitely a need to drive that participation.

A number of things are happening to support that. From a National WIC Association perspective, first and foremost, we want to make sure the program has the funding it needs to be able to reach all eligible people. We want to ensure that funding is available, that Congress appropriates the right amount, and that states can operate their programs as needed to provide WIC services. From a funding perspective, there is always a need to ensure WIC has the resources necessary to serve eligible families.

I think there's also a lot of innovation in that space, in terms of outreach and how it's being conducted. It really comes back to focusing on WIC access and meeting participants where they are. This means considering how people in the demographic that participates in WIC receive other information. For example, we run a recruitment and retention campaign, and we've found it really effective to use platforms like TikTok and other forms of social media to reach participants. It’s also important to ensure that the information being provided about WIC is accurate.

I would also say that, again from survey work we've done, the WIC food package is a huge incentive for participation. The final rule changes to the WIC food package that came out earlier this year will be really valuable in drawing eligible people to the program. Participants highly value the increased amount of fruits and vegetables they can access through WIC, and we're pleased to see these changes made permanent.

Ultimately, it's about how we communicate the services WIC provides in a way that is appealing to participants and reflects the full range of services the program offers.

You bring up funding. In talking with food security advocates, that’s always one of the key elements to making a program work, right? So I was curious, in your mind, what are the most critical funding or policy actions our legislators could take to ensure the program’s stability and future? 

Yeah, I think there are three key things here. The first is to ensure that the program is fully funded. That is critical.

Second, it's important to make sure that modernizations, like the ones implemented during the pandemic, get passed and remain in place. These flexibilities have been crucial, and we don't want to take a step backwards when it comes to modernization. It's worth noting that most of the people currently participating in WIC have only known the program with these changes in effect, so we need to focus on maintaining those enhancements to the WIC participant experience.

The third key point is that, along with ensuring proper funding, we must keep an eye on any legislative riders that could delay the implementation of the final rule for the food package. The states we represent, and the people working in the WIC program at both the state and local levels, are already in the process of implementing these changes. We don't want to see this process slow down any more than it already has. The last review of the food package concluded in 2017, and now it's 2024, so we finally have the opportunity to start making these changes. We don't have time to waste when it comes to implementing them.

I tend to forget it’s been that long because there was a bit of a “time hole” during the pandemic.

Yeah! There was. 

It's really critical that we move forward with making changes that will significantly enhance the experience for WIC participants. One of the things we were so grateful to see was the expansion of options for whole grains, for example, and the inclusion of more culturally specific foods that weren't previously available in the food package.

We want people to be able to tailor the food package to their needs, rather than having to fit into a pre-designed package, if that makes sense? 

It does. Related to funding, I think there is often some harmful rhetoric swirling about the efficacy of federal nutrition programs like WIC and SNAP. I was curious, from your point of view, what misconceptions you think still exist about WIC as a program and what you might say to counter those? 

Yeah, I think there are a lot of misconceptions about the services WIC provides. For example, I would love for everyone in America to know that WIC offers some of the highest-quality breastfeeding support available 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 been reviewing some focus group data, and participants shared that this education was critical in helping them feel comfortable and confident in preparing the foods they were purchasing with their WIC benefits.

So, when it comes to misconceptions about WIC, it’s really about the wide range of services the program offers. Beyond the specific services, there’s also the profound impact WIC has on families. We're hearing more and more that WIC helps families feel supported during difficult times in their lives, and I think that’s an incredibly important aspect of the program that shouldn't be underestimated.