USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) and Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) will work collaboratively to develop a national workforce strategy for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), to help shape the integration of diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility principles across the broader nutrition services workforce.
Donor Name: U.S. Department of Agriculture
State: All States
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 04/17/2023
Size of the Grant: $750,000
Grant Duration: 6 Months
Details:
The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, hereafter referred to as WIC, is administered by the USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) and serves to safeguard the health of eligible women who are pregnant, postpartum, and/or breastfeeding, infants, and children up to age 5 who are at nutritional risk by providing nutritious foods to supplement food purchases, information on healthy eating including breastfeeding promotion and support, and referrals to health care.
Purpose of the Program
The purpose of this project is to develop a five-year National WIC Workforce Strategy that will be used in subsequent components of FNS and NIFA joint agency work. The joint agency initiative aims to strengthen the diversity and cultural competency of the WIC workforce, with the goals of increasing WIC participation through reaching those populations that are eligible, but not enrolled and increasing WIC participants’ likelihood of adopting nutrition education and breastfeeding support recommendations. Strategy development related to cultural representation and culturally responsive care should include cultural competency to serve historically underserved populations participating in WIC and include strategies for State/local agencies, which include Indian Tribal Organizations (ITOs) and territories, to identify and meet targeted needs Cultural competency in this context is broader than race or ethnicity and includes socioeconomic and other cultural factors that may affect the efficacy of program services.
Program Area Description
A single award will be administered as a Cooperative Agreement between NIFA and the Grantee. Liaisons from both agencies, one from NIFA and one from FNS, will also meet regularly with the Grantee virtually to track progress, address questions and concerns, and provide additional context, content, and contacts, as needed. The Grantee will be provided with information from the WIC modernization investment framework listening sessions as a base from which to conduct additional stakeholder forums. A commitment to clear and effective communication and collaboration among all involved parties will be essential to the success of this project.
The project must address all objectives as sequentially outlined below.
Objective 1. Conduct an analysis of key information to better understand the current WIC workforce as it relates to the project purpose and goals.
- Convene stakeholder forum(s) to seek broad stakeholder input, key questions, and priorities from the field to inform WIC Workforce Strategy Development.
- Conduct a needs assessment of WIC staffing capacity, core skills for nutrition services roles in WIC to meet FNS WIC Nutrition Services Standards, including but not limited to competencies to provide culturally responsive care, and a current landscape of cultural diversity amongst the WIC workforce.
- Identify existing workforce development programs that have potential to partner with WIC administrating agencies to recruit staff who have direct client interaction, such as administrative or clerical positions, but are not required to have specialized education and training (e.g., SNAP Employment and Training Programs, EFNEP).
- Assess and summarize barriers to WIC workforce recruitment and retention, including but not limited to compensation, advancement opportunities, and key partnerships to provide community-level supports (e.g., childcare, transportation).
Objective 2: Assess current education and training programs that prepare prospective WIC nutrition services staff and/or provide continuing education to current WIC nutrition services staff.
- Identify current training programs that successfully prepare culturally diverse community members and former participants to apply for nutrition services positions in WIC and could potentially serve as models.
- Identify gaps in exposure to WIC as a career opportunity in current educational pathways and supervised practice experiences for nutrition professionals or other allied health professionals.
- Identify gaps in continuing education to improve cultural competency for WIC nutrition services staff.
- Recommend strategies to leverage coordination between WIC, EFNEP and other Federal nutrition programs to potentially strengthen WIC workforce recruitment and retention, including but not limited to recruiting diverse and culturally competent staff through Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) employment and training programs.
Objective 3: Develop a comprehensive, National WIC Workforce Development Strategy that includes clear objectives and specific process and intervention recommendations for each of the following topics:
- Increase diversity and cultural competency in the WIC nutrition services workforce.
- Increase cultural diversity and competency in other WIC staff roles that involve direct client interaction (e.g., administrative or clerical positions).
- Address barriers to recruitment and retention, including but not limited to, compensation, advancement opportunities, and known workforce development challenges (e.g.,childcare, transportation).
The strategy must also:
- Reflect assumptions and rationale for decisions made in developing recommendations.
- Include a logic model and implementation plan that will advise how to sufficiently support a sustained infrastructure for culturally appropriate nutrition education program delivery to historically underserved and at-risk populations.
- Put forth a model for success which could potentially help shape the integration of DEIA principles across the broader nutrition education workforce at local, State agency, and Federal levels.
Funding Information
The amount available for the National WIC Workforce Strategy Development (NWWSD) in FY2023 is approximately $750,000 for a Cooperative Agreement. USDA is not committed to fund any particular application or to make a specific number of awards.
Grant Duration: 6 Months
Eligible Applicants
- State Agricultural Experiment Station;
- colleges and universities (including junior colleges offering associate degrees or higher, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Tribal Colleges, 1994 LandGrant Institutions, Hispanic-serving agricultural colleges and universities)
- university research foundations;
- other research institutions and organizations;
- non-profit organizations
- Federal agencies;
- Governmental agencies
- national laboratories;
- private organizations or corporations;
- individuals who are U.S. citizens, nationals, or permanent residents
Eligible institutions do not include foreign or international organizations.
For more information, visit Grants.gov.
