The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, or WIC, offers food assistance to low-income pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers, infants, and children.
But in Boone County, Ill., only about half of those eligible actually participate, per a press release.
That's about to change with a $297,157 grant from the federal government.
The Boone County Health Department and Maternal Child Health Advisory Council will use the money to "develop, implement, and evaluate innovative outreach strategies to increase awareness, participation, and benefit redemption," per the release.
Specifically, they'll use the funds to take WIC services on the road, where they'll "help streamline referrals and community partnerships and better support our maternal child health population," says Amanda Mehl, public health administrator for the Boone County Health Department.
The release notes that in 2020, only 50% of eligible individuals nationwide participated in WIC.
The WIC program "has been shown to provide wide-ranging benefits including: Longer, safer pregnancies Fewer premature births Fewer infant deathsImproved dietary outcomes for infants and childrenImproved maternal healthImproved performance in schoolSignificant savings in health care costs when compared to non-participants of WIC."
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Ganesh Natarajan is the Founder and Chairman of 5FWorld, a new platform for funding and developing start-ups, social enterprises and the skills eco-system in India. In the past two decades, he has built two of India’s high-growth software services companies – Aptech and Zensar – almost from scratch to global success.