The WIC Program is Offering Research Grants for Food Package Revisions and Their Impact

This request for applications (RFA) will provide $1,500,000 in Federal funding, through a one-time cooperative agreement, to one external entity (institute of higher education or other non-profit research organization) that will ultimately provide grants to researchers to conduct pre- and post-implementation research around changes to the WIC food packages. Eligible external entities include accredited institutions of higher education (colleges/universities), nonprofit research organizations, and other nonprofit organizations. The purpose of this cooperative agreement is to better understand facilitators and barriers to implementation encountered by State/local programs, participants, and vendors and to generate evidence around implementation of the final changes to the WIC food packages rule. The goal of this work will be to assess the impacts of the recommended revisions to the WIC food packages on program satisfaction, program participation, availability and redemption of WIC foods, and participants’ diets and health.