This press release was originally published on the National WIC Association website.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The National WIC Association (NWA), the nonprofit education and advocacy voice for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), has received $14.9 million from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service via a competitively awarded, one-time, four-year cooperative agreement to modernize WIC Management Information Systems (MIS). NWA has partnered in this important work with Nava Public Benefit Corporation and Code for America — each of which brings extensive technical experience in modernizing federal program services and delivery.
This work is part of a larger WIC modernization effort to maximize the program’s potential to improve health outcomes for current and future participants. The MIS is the backbone of WIC’s administrative, assessment, and reporting functions. It is responsible for collecting and managing a wide array of data on WIC families, covering nearly all aspects of the program. Components of MIS include appointment scheduling, eligibility checks, medical/nutrition assessments, and benefit issuance. NWA will work to enable modernized MIS, helping WIC agencies operate more efficiently and sustainably while better serving participants and staff.
“WIC offers critical health and nutrition services to more than 6.7 million people. Modernized MIS options for state agencies are essential to deliver those services efficiently and effectively,” said Georgia Machell, NWA president and CEO. “We are grateful for USDA’s support and look forward to working with our partners to offer WIC participants and staff an even stronger program experience.”
Under the cooperative agreement, NWA and its partners will assess the current WIC MIS landscape, plan for and support transitional improvements, develop a future state MIS product and market strategy, and assist USDA and state agencies in implementation. The agreement builds on recent technological innovations in WIC, such as expanding hybrid and virtual enrollment and certification and increasing the availability of online shopping, an initiative WIC participants widely support.
“By improving technology and making the program run more efficiently, WIC’s value to participants will only increase,” said Machell. “Thanks to this agreement, we will be closer to achieving one of our core objectives: sustaining effective nutrition services for mothers and young children.”
