Published May 9, 2025

In celebration of Mother’s Day, FRAC is highlighting the important role the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) plays for moms and their families, and ways to support WIC.  

 WIC serves nutritionally at-risk pregnant and postpartum women, infants, and young children up to age 5 in households with low incomes. 

 With WIC, mothers can receive healthy foods tailored for nutritional and cultural needs, including approximately $50 per month for fruits and vegetables; breastfeeding support; nutrition education and counseling; screenings for immunizations and for conditions such as postnatal depression; and referrals to appropriate health and social services. Their infants and children can receive infant formula or healthy foods tailored for their health, including $26 for fruits and vegetables for children, and screenings and referrals for health and social services.

 WIC’s positive impacts on the health and well-being of mothers and their children are well-documented. WIC improves participant health and well-being, dietary intake, and birth and health outcomes; improves food and economic security; protects against obesity; and supports learning and development. WIC benefits are cost-effective and generate major savings in federal, state, local, and private health care, as well as in special education costs. WIC also benefits local economies.  

 More than 6.8 million moms and children are currently benefitting from WIC, but  millions more eligible people are missing out on WIC. Connecting more eligible people to the program and keeping WIC strong has tremendous potential for improving maternal and child health and supporting moms around the nation. 

 Take action to support moms and WIC.  

Bolster WIC in your community:  

  • Spread the word about WIC. Educating your community about WIC eligibility, services, and the many benefits of participation helps ensure moms and families have updated and accurate information on WIC. For example, you can highlight the improved food packages and the increased fruit and vegetable benefit in your community with FRAC’s food package toolkit (in English and Spanish). Connecting families to information on how to apply for WIC is key too, and families can use the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) WIC pre-screening tool to check in advance if they may be eligible.  
  • Build or strengthen partnerships with key WIC stakeholders, such as WIC agencies, trusted community partners, and health care providers. Working with your WIC agency is a great opportunity to learn about strategies for connecting moms to WIC in your community, and to support the use of remote– service options for WIC moms and their families. Working with trusted organizations, houses of worship, and community champions can help spread the word about WIC to eligible moms and families who may not otherwise apply for WIC;, and for immigrant families, this can help combat fear and ensure they are hearing about WIC in their preferred language. Health care providers are trusted voices on health and supporting them to educate patients and make referrals to WIC means more moms and families can connect to WIC more seamlessly. Learn more with FRAC’s WIC Guide for Health Care Providers. 

 Protect and strengthen WIC:  

  • Push for sufficient funding in the fiscal year 2026 budget to meet WIC caseload and rising food costs. It is essential that WIC be funded at a level that will ensure every eligible family who applies for the program can receive the benefits. Urge Congress to work with USDA to monitor trends in participation and food costs to ensure sufficient funding. Included in the WIC appropriation should be longstanding set– asides for WIC Breastfeeding Peer Counseling ($90 million), infrastructure and technical assistance ($16 million), and management information systems to support modernizing the program ($50 million). There also should be $20 million for the WIC Farmers Market Nutrition Program (FMNP), which provides fresh, locally grown fruits and vegetables to WIC participants. See FRAC’s Fiscal Year 2026 Budget and Appropriations Priorities for Food and Nutrition Programs. 
  • Support the Modern WIC Act (HR 1464), which creates permanent options for remote WIC certification and benefits issuance. Remote service options help reduce barriers for WIC families (such as with transportation or lining up work schedules with appointments), work efficiently for WIC agencies, and bring WIC more in line with modern health services, all while protecting program benefits integrity. These remote options are only in place until September 2026, and congressional action is needed to make them permanent. Contact your Member of Congress to ask them to cosponsor the bill.
  • Ensure your state is supporting, not undermining WIC. State lawmakers should be taking steps to bolster WIC to meet the needs of your community. If a state is instead working to limit WIC access or making systems more burdensome to communities and WIC agencies, that will harm the nutrition, health, and development of WIC– eligible families and the local economy. Contact FRAC if there are efforts to weaken WIC in your state: Kate Scully, kscully@frac.org, or Susan Beaudoin, sbeaudoin@frac.org. 

Celebrate and support the mothers in your life and community by advocating for measures that protect and ease participant access to this vital program.