Highlighting the Impacts of Insufficient WIC Funding on Low-Income Families

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the cost of food has risen 25%, and many are struggling to provide enough nutritious food to their families.

Federal safety net programs  – like the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) for example – are intended to provide needed support for healthy foods during hard times, serving millions each year. The WIC program, however, is not guaranteed to all that might need it. Instead it relies on budget appropriations, which for the first time in the history of the program may not be enough to cover those in need.

There is a chance that as many as 600,000 young children, pregnant and new mothers who qualify for WIC will not be able to receive benefits in the upcoming year.

Allison Karpyn is Co-Director of the Center for Research in Education and Social Policy (CRESP) and Professor in the Department of the Human Development and Family Sciences at the University of Delaware. She is able to speak holistically about WIC and other federal food programs and what this funding can accomplish.

"Federal Nutrition and related programs also need to address issues of stigma," Karpyn says.

Recent frameworks developed by Dr. Karpyn and colleague suggest that more needs to be done to adequately understand and support families to use the benefits intended for them. Research is clear that food and nutrition security are closely tied to our health, she notes.

Karpyn is able to speak about this and more. If you would like to speak to her, click her "View Profile" link.