By TOMMY REZAC
St. Joseph Post
The Andrew County Health Department was recently awarded a grant of more than $397,000 to implement a WIC Community Innovation and Outreach Project, or WIC CIAO.
The project is supported by the USDA Food and Nutrition Service, and it aims to build outreach strategies to increase participation in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children.
Jayne White, Director of Clinical Operations at the Andrew County Health Department, says Andrew County was one of 36 agencies selected for this grant in a pool of 150 applicants.
"We worked through the application and process and dreamed big with some of the projects in partnering with some other entities for some services within our program and ultimately applied," White said. "We were lucky enough to be one of the 36 that (USDA) chose."
White says this project will expand partnerships and use census data to reach families in areas where there’s likely a higher percentage of eligible WIC families in Andrew County.
"It allows us to work on retention and acquiring new WIC clients through innovative ideas," she explained. "Typically, our funding that comes through that program is very restrictive about what we can do with it. This gives us an opportunity to come up with innovative ideas and projects and different avenues to be able to serve the WIC population."
Brenda Johnson, the nutrition coordinator at the Andrew County Health Department, says WIC provides essential goods and services to pregnant women, new mothers, postpartum women and young children.
"It would provide formula for babies if that's what they need," Johnson said. "Moms can be on (WIC) pregnant and postpartum. Kids can be on it from ages 1-5."
Andrew County Health will use community feedback to inform their outreach strategies, along with a Peer-to-Peer referral program, targeted digital marketing campaigns and events like Mothering Mondays and Walk-in Wednesdays to try and reach more WIC-eligible families.
White says trying these things can have a widespread impact on families everywhere.
"If we can increase our participation, we can continue the program even farther into the future," White said. "You have to be able to try those things. This will be a good way for us to try some things. Ultimately, we hope we find some things that work and then we can share them with other partners across the nation."
Data shows that only 50% of all eligible individuals nationwide participate in WIC. White says this project aims to change that locally by expanding partnerships with community organizations to implement outreach efforts.
"We're trying to make our WIC program available and accessible to people when they need it," White said. "They can still work and do all of those things they need to do as a busy family, but also receive the services they need to be able to grow a strong, healthy family as well."
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