The Special Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, or WIC, offers low-income pregnant and breastfeeding women and their children access to healthy food through a variety of programs, including food stamps and nutrition education.
Now, the US Department of Agriculture is awarding three grants totaling $53 million over the next five years to help modernize the program, NBC News reports.
"WIC is an incredibly powerful public health program, with strong, proven participants, so we've got to do all we can to connect eligible mothers, infants, and children to the program and provide them with a positive, meaningful experience," Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack says in a press release.
One of the grants, $20 million to the Food Research & Action Center, will fund "innovative outreach to existing and potential WIC participants," NBC reports.
The other two grants, $23 million and $10 million, will improve the shopping experience for WIC participants, according to the USDA.
The grants are part of a larger effort to modernize WIC over the next decade.
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