"Too many women and children in Missouri are missing out on the nutrition they need in order to thrive," Jayne White, director of clinical and emergency operations for the Andrew County Health Department in Missouri, says in a press release.
To remedy that, the department has been awarded a $397,105.00 grant from the USDA's Food and Nutrition Service to implement a WIC Community Innovation and Outreach Project, which aims to "increase awareness, participation, and benefit redemption in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, and reduce disparities in program delivery."
Per the release, WIC provides healthy foods, nutrition education, breastfeeding counseling, and referrals for 87,061 participants in Missouri, including 14,159 pregnant and postpartum individuals, 23,065 infants up to 12 months, and 42,485 children up to age 5.
In 2020, only 50% of all eligible individuals nationwide participated in WIC, equating to a shortfall of almost 6 million individuals.
The WIC CIAO Project aims to change that by expanding partnerships with community organizations and using community-level data to develop and implement innovative WIC outreach efforts.
Andrew County will use participant and community feedback to inform their outreach strategies, which will include a Peer-to-Peer referral program, a targeted digital marketing campaign, and program development and branding
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