In King County, WA, food insecurity is pervasive among low-income children and inequitable by race, yet WIC utilization is also low. We propose to evaluate an innovative WIC mobile strategy to be implemented in 2020 to advance nutrition and food security equity. Mobile WIC teams will bring services to non-traditional community settings (e.g., food banks and shelters). Informed by client focus groups and piloted in 2019, this responds to client-identified needs–transportation support, food access, and housing, which have not been met by traditional implementation requiring clients to travel to WIC offices. We hypothesize that mobile WIC teams will facilitate access to and increase utilization of WIC education and food benefits, which will advance health equity by increasing food security and nutrition among clients who are disproportionately people of color. The study sample will be WIC eligible, low-income women and children in King County prior to and after implementation (>200,000 clients, 2017-2021).
Evaluating innovations to overcome barriers to equitable access to and use of federal Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children benefits
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