This report is a census of women, infants, and children who were participating in the WIC program in April, 2012. The report includes information on participant income and nutrition risk characteristics, and estimates breastfeeding initiation rates for WIC infants.

This report estimates the average monthly food costs for each of 5 WIC participant subgroups and estimates total dollars spent on 17 major categories of WIC-eligible foods in FY 2010. The participant and food level costs in this report are USDA’s first estimates since implementation of the 2009 WIC food package changes.

The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) is a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) program that for three decades has helped supplement the diets of low-income Americans, including seniors, by providing them with emergency food and nutrition assistance at no cost. This white paper explains the program and describes some of its key results.

This study describes how farmers markets and direct marketing farmers operate and their perceived benefits and barriers to accepting SNAP.

This report summarizes the results of the school year 2008-09 application verification process for the National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program. Each year, Local Educational Agencies review a sample of applications that they approved for free or reduced-price school meal benefits at the start of the school year.

In response to rising caseloads and limited resources, states have sought to reduce administrative costs while maintaining or increasing access to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The changes states have made are commonly referred to as modernization, not privatization. Modernization decisions are influenced by a variety of factors that vary by state. This report presents in-depth case studies in five states with modernization initiatives in place between July 2000 and February 2012 to describe their experiences, assess potential impacts, and identify key lessons learned.

The report describes the project goals and strategies, provides a general description of each grantee, and gives a synopsis of project performance. 

This study examines the feasibility of assessing causes of variation in SAE by addressing two fundamental sets of questions: Is it possible to measure SAE consistently across states to credibly assess the degree of variation? Are alternative ways to measure SAE needed? If so, what level of effort is needed? Can SAE variation be explained in the absence of a controlled experiment? If yes, what are the alternative approaches? Which are recommended?

The Child and Adult Care Food Program subsidizes nutritious meals and snacks served to participants in child care nationwide, providing different levels or “tiers” of meal reimbursement based on the income level of participating children, providers, and nearby geographic areas. Policymakers have long been concerned that programs such as CACFP are not as accessible to eligible children in rural areas as in urban areas.

The Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act of 2004 authorized a pilot to operate in rural Pennsylvania during the summers of 2005 and 2006. The purpose was to test whether lowering the site eligibility threshold from 50 percent to 40 percent would increase the number of children participating in the program.