Women, Infants and Children (WIC)

Mission

WIC's primary mission, as an adjunct to good healthcare, is to provide education for optimal nutrition during critical stages of growth and development. The program provides an array of support for families including breastfeeding support and promotion; referrals to needed medical and social services in the community; and assessment of client nutritional status. WIC also provides checks for healthy foods based on the clients’ nutritional needs. WIC recipients show higher birth weight, lower infant mortality, improved blood iron levels and diets, improved brain and neurological development, and lower use of intensive care nurseries compared to infants born to lower income mothers that have not benefited from proper nutritional food supplements.

2012 Accomplishments and Milestones

• Supported breastfeeding mothers returning to work or school by providing hospital-grade electric breast pumps free of charge; provided 40 pumps in 2011 and 60 pumps in 2012
• Implemented medical necessity breast pump program to assist moms with medical emergencies that cannot receive pumps through their insurer
• Increased the percentage of WIC mothers who initiated breastfeeding from 58% to 63%
• Expanded the use of the fruit and vegetable voucher to allow its use at WIC-approved Farmer's Markets statewide

Eligibility

To participate in WIC, you must live in Rhode Island; be a pregnant, breastfeeding, or post partum women or a guardian of a child five years of age or younger; and meet income guidelines.