Wiring WIC

NURTURING THE FUTURE

The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the digital transformation of nearly every sector of our society from business, to education, to healthcare. Yet technology remains underutilized in America’s safety net programs, which is a missed opportunity to help those in need during times of significant hardship. Major public health initiatives like  WIC faced unprecedented challenges over the past two years. Participants struggled to access their benefits when essential components of the program — like shopping in person for WIC eligible foods, enrolling or attending in-person recertification clinic appointments to maintain eligibility — became increasingly difficult due to lockdowns, food supply shortages, and the closure of agency clinics. Join us on Monday, May 23rd from 1 to 2:30 pm to discuss solutions to modernize WIC with technology so that we can enact positive change from this crisis. 

For over 45 years, WIC has served as an indispensable resource for low-income families providing access to healthy foods, breastfeeding counseling, nutrition education, and referrals to other health services. But despite WIC’s track record of accomplishments, the program is not reaching or meeting the needs of all of its beneficiaries. In 2019, only 57 percent of eligible people participated in WIC. Alarmingly, as children grow older, fewer participate in the program, with a sharp decline after infancy. While 98% of eligible infants are enrolled in WIC, only 26% of eligible 4-year-olds participate in the program. Now more than ever, it is paramount to integrate emerging technologies into WIC to significantly modernize and improve the experience and health outcomes for mothers and children. 

Several years ago, leaders from the WIC Health and Technology Initiative — a project of New America, the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and the MIT Media Lab supported by the Rockefeller and Aetna Foundations— convened experts in public health, nutrition, design, and technology to identify interventions to “wire” WIC with the best available technology, exploring a range of opportunities to leverage mobile phones, apps, the internet, social media, texting, video-conferencing, and other platforms. Recommendations included technology solutions for simplifying program administration, boosting enrollment, enhancing participants’ shopping experiences, providing online education, innovating service delivery, reducing the high attrition rate from WIC, and seamlessly cross-enrolling participants in other federal assistance programs including Medicaid, SNAP and TANF. When first introduced, the proposed modifications to WIC seemed ahead of their time, but the COVID-19 pandemic heightened the urgency to create a more user-friendly, technology-enabled WIC program. 

Confirmed Speakers

• Susan Blumenthal, MD, MPA, Director, Health Innovations Lab, New America; Former US Assistant Surgeon General; and Rear Admiral (ret)

• Walter Willett, MD, DrPH, Professor of Epidemiology and Nutrition. at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

• Dava Newman, PhD, Director, MIT Media Lab and Apollo Program Professor of Astronautics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

• Senator Debbie Stabenow (D - MI), Chairwoman, US Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry

• Senator Roy Blunt (R - MO), Ranking Member, US Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education

• Rajiv Shah MD, President, Rockefeller Foundation

• Amanda Renteria, MBA, Chief Executive Officer, Code for America

• Rachel Colchamiro, Director, Nutrition Division, Massachusetts Department of Health

• Harry Zhang, PhD, Professor, Community & Environmental Health, Old Dominion University

• David Kong, PhD, Director, Community Biotechnology Initiative, MIT Media Lab