On Monday, March 8, The Council of State Governments (CSG) announced the awarding of funds to six State and local Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) agencies as part of the WIC Special Project Innovation (WSPI) Grant program. The funds will support these agencies as they implement and evaluate innovative project ideas to improve the WIC certification process. Project ideas selected for funding include:
- Public Health Foundation Enterprises (PHFE) WIC: Utilizing the CinnaMoms Model to Increase Engagement, Enrollment and Certification of Black Participants
- Long Island Jewish Medical Center WIC: WIC RISE (Referral Improvement Streamline Enrollment)
- Colorado WIC: Modernizing the Colorado WIC Experience –
- Pennsylvania WIC in collaboration with West Virginia WIC: Virtual Integration of WIC Participant Health Information and Certification Required Materials to Decrease Certification Appointment Duration
- Family Service Lincoln WIC: Using Technology to Improve Services and Enhance Customer Service in Nebraska
- Michigan WIC: Michigan Certification Enhancement Project (CEP)
These financial awards signaled the culmination of CSG’s work in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service (FNS). This work included soliciting applications from interested WIC agencies, providing technical assistance to potential subgrantees as they developed their project proposal ideas and reviewing submitted applications.
“CSG is excited to see the innovative ways states are seeking to overcome common barriers to certification and better meet the needs of WIC-eligible families,” said Elizabeth Whitehouse, CSG chief public policy officer.
Submitted applications underwent extensive review by a committee of WIC program experts and staff from CSG and the non-profit Gretchen Swanson Center for Nutrition (GSCN). Applications were evaluated based on their anticipated improvements to the certification process. These improvements include reduced no-show rates, shortened certification appointments and clinic wait times, increased participant satisfaction and reduced temporary or shortened certifications that are completed.
Awarded projects focus on the use of digital tools such as text message reminders for appointments, online portals for documentation upload, pre-appointment surveys/questionnaires and online appointment scheduling tools. These solutions are anticipated to ease burden on potential enrollees and clinic staff and shorten the length of certification appointments.
Many of the selected proposals also will utilize these technology solutions to enhance certification among WIC-eligible individuals within underserved groups and WIC eligible individuals at critical stages of pregnancy and early childhood. Populations that are a specific focus of proposals include Black mothers, individuals experiencing language and/or literacy barriers and pregnant women in their first trimester.
Over the next two years, CSG and their evaluation partners at GSCN will provide selected subgrantees with continued support and technical assistance as they implement and evaluate their project proposals. Project implementation will begin later this month and conclude in June 2022.