CNN
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The US Department of Agriculture is awarding $53 million in grants to bolster outreach efforts, improve technology, and improve the shopping experience for families receiving the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, known as like WIC.
The funding, which comes from the American Bailout Act of 2021is intended to help state agencies, community groups, and other nonprofit organizations test new ways to reach existing and potential WIC participants.
It will also go to state agencies to take advantage of text messaging, mobile phone support, and appointment scheduling tools, as well as for projects that help participants identify WIC-eligible foods at grocery stores, plan shopping online with WIC benefits and training grocery store workers to provide better services to beneficiaries.
The effort comes as the Biden administration seeks to beef up food assistance and minimize hunger In the USA.
WIC provides food, nutrition education, breastfeeding support, and health care referrals to low-income children up to age 5 and to pregnant and postpartum women. the American rescue plan It also expanded access to fruits and vegetables by increasing the amount of the benefit to $35 per month per person, a provision that was later modified and extended until December of this year.
Some 6.2 million Americans participated in WIC in February, an increase of 1.2% from February 2020, according to a recent report of the Food Research & Action Center, an advocacy group. Participants invested $7 billion in WIC benefits in local economies.
But turnout varied widely, rising in 21 states and the District of Columbia and falling or flat in the rest in the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic.
North Carolina had the largest increase in participation at 21%, while New Mexico had the largest drop at 20%, according to the center’s report.
Almost 1.4 million women participated in February, a decrease of 5.4% in two years. The number of children on the show jumped 8.7% to nearly 3.4 million, while the number of babies fell 7.7% to 1.4 million.
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