The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, better known as WIC, provides food to nearly 6 million moms, babies, and young childrenbut only 50% of those eligible actually participate, the Washington Post reports.
That's why the US Department of Agriculture is awarding $16 million in grants to 36 projects that will try to remedy that.
"While our efforts to increase participation among eligible groups appear to be taking hold, we have more work to do," says a USDA official, per the Post.
Among the projects: Native American groups will try to boost participation in WIC by making it easier for pregnant women and breastfeeding moms to sign up for the program, the AP reports.
They'll also try to get more black and Latino families to sign up for WIC.
A project in Mobile County, Ala., will focus on retaining black and Latino families by addressing language and environmental barriers.
The projects are part of a larger effort to modernize WIC.
A customized collection of grant news from foundations and the federal government from around the Web.
Caroline Diehl is a serial social entrepreneur in the impact media space. She is Executive Chair and Founder of the UK’s only charitable and co-operatively owned national broadcast television channel Together TV, the leading broadcaster for social change runs a national TV channel in the UK and digital platform which helps people find inspiration to do good in their lives and communities.