USDA is investing in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) and the WIC Farmers' Market Nutrition Program (FMNP) to reach more eligible families, keep families in WIC while they remain eligible, encourage families to redeem more of their food benefits, and advance equity. The dashboard tracks the progress of this work.

The goal of the dashboard is to provide national and state level visualization of meals served, participation, and funding data for the National School Lunch Program, School Breakfast Program, Child and Adult Care Food Program, and Summer Food Service Program. The dashboard can be used by federal, state, and local organizations to assess trends in child nutrition program activity.

FNS produces biennial reports on WIC participant and program characteristics for use in program monitoring and managing WIC information needs. The data visualizations summarize demographic, income and health-related characteristics and behaviors of participants certified to receive WIC benefits.

Each year, FNS estimates the number of eligible individuals for WIC during an average month of the calendar year. FNS uses estimates of the number of individuals eligible for WIC and the number likely to participate to better predict future funding needs, measure WIC performance, and identify potentially unmet nutrition assistance needs.