Carson City January 10, 2023
The Nevada Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, better known as Nevada WIC, has received one of four nationally grant funded awards from the Gretchen Swanson Center for Nutrition (GSCN) to test the integration of WIC online ordering using the WICShopper app.
The app, which was introduced in 2017, can be used on a smartphone to check WIC food benefit balances, scan food items, allow the shopper to determine what food items are available to them, find recipes and cooking tips to help save time and money and to provide nourishing foods to families using WIC. The WICShopper app is available free for download on both the Apple Store and Google Play. WIC participation is not required for the app, although certain features will not function without an active WIC EBT card number.
The goal of the online shopping grant is to improve the WIC shopping experience with WIC approved vendors utilizing the already established WICShopper app. The Nevada WIC program will be partnering with Save Mart and James P. Magee and Associates’, known as JPMA, Inc., through this exploratory project. GSCN will use program data to create a results-based report for WIC that includes a set of recommendations to potentially increase the availability of, and support for, WIC online ordering across the United States. Nevada WIC will participate in learning collaborative sessions, benefit from technical assistance, and work together with GSCN to evaluate the outcomes and lessons learned during the online ordering project. The Blueprint for WIC Online Ordering Projects can be found on GSCN’s website.
“This project aims to help improve the shopping experience and ensure equitable access to WIC foods for all WIC families,” said Sarah Rogers, nutrition unit deputy chief for the Division of Public and Behavioral Health. “Nevada WIC is honored to be a recipient of the GSCN Online Ordering Grant Project supporting the enhancement and modernization of the WIC Program.”
Since 1974, the WIC program has served to safeguard the health of low-income pregnant, postpartum, and breastfeeding women, infants, and children up to age 5 who are at nutritional risk by providing nutritious foods to supplement diets, information on healthy eating including breastfeeding promotion and support, and referrals to health care.
As of November 2022, Nevada WIC serves nearly 52,000 Nevadans per month, and currently partners with 221 vendors throughout the state to redeem WIC benefits.
For more information about Nevada WIC and the WICShopper app, visit nevadawic.org.