WIC Grants To States (WGS)

To assist WIC State agencies, through grants and cooperative agreements, in making improvements and/or enhancements to the delivery of program benefits and services to participants. These grants and cooperative agreements include the following: 1. WIC Breastfeeding Peer Counseling Grants (discretionary) are provided to WIC State agencies to implement or maintain effective breastfeeding peer counselor programs. Combining peer counseling with the on-going breastfeeding promotion and support efforts in WIC agencies has the potential to significantly impact breastfeeding rates among WIC participants. The Food and Nutrition Service’s long-range vision is to institutionalize peer counseling as a core service in WIC. A portion of these funds may be used to award breastfeeding performance bonuses. These incentives build upon WIC’s longstanding efforts to promote and support breastfeeding and are intended to recognize and award State agencies that have demonstrated successful breastfeeding promotion and support efforts. 2. WIC Infrastructure Grants (discretionary) are provided to WIC State agencies for infrastructure projects that support national and regional priorities to improve the delivery of program benefits and services to participants. 3. WIC Technology Grants which include WIC Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) and Management Information System (MIS) Grants were provided to WIC State agencies for the implementation of WIC EBT systems and/or to transfer a viable MIS. These grants included: (1) WIC EBT Implementation (non-competitive) Grants to support EBT planning or implementation projects through the Advanced Planning Document (APD) process; (2) WIC State Agency Model (SAM) Amendments (non-competitive) Grants to support WIC State agencies in the SAM Users Group; (3) WIC SAM Transfers Grants (non-competitive) to complete planning activities and have an approved Alternatives Analysis document justifying a SAM as their choice of system transfer; (4) WIC Management Information Systems (MIS) Implementation (non-competitive) Grants to implement a transfer MIS or are upgrading or enhancing their current MIS; (5) WIC SAM Product Management Office (PMO) (non-competitive) and SAM Maintenance and Enhancement (M&E) Grants for the support and management of the SAM change control process, including prioritization of enhancements, User Group governance, and maintenance and operation of the State agency MIS core code.