Published: July 2020

Publisher: Healthy Eating Research

Authors: Bleich S, Dunn C, Kenney E, Fleischhacker S

See more related research

Share


The USDA Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) provides critical nutrition assistance to lower-income women, infants, and young children. During the coronavirus pandemic, unemployment has risen to levels greater than experienced during the Great Recession, and food insecurity has also increased, making WIC’s role more important than ever. This research brief focuses on how to strengthen WIC’s impact during and after COVID-19. The brief summarizes the evidence of WIC’s benefits and challenges the program and participants are facing due to COVID-19. The brief addresses what actions are needed in addition to the Families First Coronavirus Response Act passed by Congress, which provided $500 million for 2020 to support increases in WIC enrollment. The brief suggests increasing access to telemedicine, expanding online food package ordering, in addition to steps already taken, including minimum stocking requirements and food package substitutions for added flexibility.

Related Research

July 2026

“It’s just not worth it anymore”: A Mixed Methods Study Examining the Impact of Reinstating Reimbursement Tiers in the Child and Adult Care Food Program

This study aimed to assess impacts of the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) reinstatement of tiered reimbursements among family child care home (FCCH) providers, sponsors, and families in California. Irrespective of tier, surveyed providers reported that the reinstated, tiered reimbursements were insufficient (92.4%), resulting in reduced food variety (39.1%) and quality (14.8%), and More

July 2026

Forecasting WIC Funding Needs: Supporting Families, Strengthening Access

In partnership with Westat and with support from Healthy Eating Research, the National WIC Association (NWA) developed a new forecasting model to project funding needs of the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) for Fiscal Year 2027. Report This report describes the model development, including methodology, as well as analysis conducted More

May 2026

SNAP participation and the healthfulness of food purchased by households with children during the pandemic

Changes in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic included emergency benefit allotments and operation waivers. Using five expenditure-based measures of the nutritional quality of food purchases, we tested whether changes in SNAP during the first year of the pandemic were associated with better nutritional quality of food purchases More