Online Group Nutrition Education Sessions (ONEDS)
State Agency: Arizona
Summary: This Full Grant addresses WIC child retention by developing, implementing and evaluating a series of online facilitated video group chat nutrition education discussions - ONEDS to WIC participants. The opportunity to allow participants to receive their nutrition education through an online discussion with other WIC participants addresses many barriers to participation reported in the literature and previous research studies in Arizona.
Connecticut WIC and Head Start Cross-Program Collaboration Project
State Agency: Connecticut
Summary: This Full Grant addresses WIC child retention by creating a formal partnership between WIC and Head Start (HS)/Early Head Start (EHS) program to promote increased participation and/or retention in both programs, and increase coordination of services for the purpose of enhancing the overall health and welfare of families in Connecticut (CT). The main goals of the collaboration project include strengthening and maintaining a formal partnership between the WIC and HS programs at the state and local levels, implementing and evaluating systems for collaboration between WIC and HS programs, increasing and improving services to families, and evaluating changes in collaboration to identify best practices that result in increased participation and/or retention in both programs.
Good Food and a Whole Lot More: A Recipe to Increase Child Retention and Improve Utilization of the Food Package in the Massachusetts WIC Program
State Agency: Massachusetts
Summary: This Full Grant addresses WIC child retention by designing and implementing a set of expanded interactive nutrition education services that focus on grocery shopping, cooking skills, menu planning, and meal preparation. This project will provide hands-on learning featuring healthy food cooking demonstrations (using portable kitchens) with take-home recipe cards, cooking min-workshops, and grocery shopping tours among other activities focused on procuring and preparing healthy food in a cost conscious manner.
Texting for Retention Program
State Agency: Colorado
Summary: This Mini Grant addresses WIC child retention through a Texting for Retention program (TFR). Text reminders/messages will be sent to WIC participants/caregivers about: scheduling appointment, keeping appointments already scheduled and information about the benefits of WIC participation for children over age one. The project will test this approach with approximately 30,000 participants/caregivers.
The WIC Outreach Project
State Agency: Delaware
Summary: This Mini Grant addresses WIC child retention through a partnership with the Food Bank of Delaware (DE). The project plan is for DE WIC to provide funding to the Food Bank of Delaware to hire a WIC Outreach Coordinator (WOC). The WOC will work to eliminate barriers to retention of children participating in WIC through outreach to WIC-eligible households at community access points such as Early Childhood Education Centers and Health Care Facilities. The outreach will include marketing materials and on-site certification of eligible children. WIC food benefits will be issued at the WIC local agency.
WIC2Five: Using Mobile Health Education Messaging to Support Program Retention
State Agency: Vermont
Summary: This Mini Grant addresses WIC child retention by texting secure mobile health education messages to WIC participants. Parents who opt-in to WIC2Five will receive texts one to two times per week for one year with message content that is age-targeted and focuses on health, nutrition, physical activity and referral information. The content of the messaging that will be used was developed and evaluated in previously funded WIC Special Project Grants (Fit WIC and Brighten My Life with Fruits and Vegetables).