Georgia's WIC Program Gets a New Look for 2012

For the past eight months, the Georgia Department of Public Health’s (DPH) Division of Communications, in collaboration with the agency’s Maternal and Child Health (MCH) program, has been working with WIC staff from all 18 public health districts to create new marketing collateral for Georgia's Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children also known as WIC.

This week, public health districts across the state began receiving shipments of the new marketing and nutrition education materials.
 
From the development of a new WIC logo to brochures, flyers, posters and even a revised online nutrition education website, this program now has a fresh, clean look and, rooted in careful research and district collaboration, is poised to increase WIC participation levels.

“When we began looking at the existing marketing materials we immediately noticed a problem,” DPH Director of Communications Ryan Deal said. “The print collateral that had been in place for years was no longer having an impact.”
During the last year, falling WIC participation levels in a weakened economy have puzzled program workers in Georgia and around the nation.

“Many families do not realize that they qualify for WIC,” said Seema Csukas, M.D., Ph.D., Interim Director of the Maternal and Child Health (MCH) & WIC programs. “For example, a family of four with an annual income of $40,000 will most likely be eligible for the program.”

These new statewide marketing materials will allow public health staff to go out into communities across the state and educate families on WIC eligibility and services.

“WIC improves the health of pregnant women, new mothers and their infants and children”, says Todd Stormant, Nutrition Unit Manager with the Georgia WIC Program. “The foods provided through WIC are a good source of the nutrients often missing from the diets of women and young children.”

Georgia vendors and grocers will also begin receiving shipments of store decals and approved food item labels to display throughout their stores as well.

“Over the past year our agency has been proactive in collaborating with local vendors to develop materials designed to help WIC customers easily identify the store’s WIC-approved items,” added Csukas. “By clearly having WIC-approved items labeled in local authorized grocery stores, we hope to help improve WIC participants’ overall shopping experience.”

Be on the lookout at your local health department and authorized grocery store as this new WIC collateral is scheduled to hit shelves throughout Georgia in the next few weeks.

With the challenges facing children such as childhood obesity and other chronic diseases, WIC is a great choice for more nutritious foods that are lower in fat, higher in fiber and culturally appropriate.
About Georgia WIC

The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) offers nutrition education, breastfeeding support, referrals and a variety of nutritious foods to low-income pregnant, breastfeeding or postpartum women, infants and children up to age five to promote and support good health. Participants use WIC benefits at authorized grocery stores to purchase their food packages.

WIC has provided nutrition education and supplemental foods to low-income families for more than 30 years. In 2010, Georgia WIC provided benefits to approximately 312,000 participants.

Georgia's WIC program is the nation’s fifth largest Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children. The Food and Nutrition Service administers the program at the federal level and provides funds to state agencies for implementation. At the state level, the Georgia Department of Public Health, Maternal and Child Health Program, Office of Nutrition and WIC administer the program.

 
-Story by Suleima Salgado, Deputy Director, DPH Office of Communications

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