State, Local, or Tribal Government Responsive

Appendix L.4.

Study description for WIC local agencies

Public Burden Statement

This information is being collected to assist the Food and Nutrition Service to better understand the implementation and impact of the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) modernization efforts on WIC State and local agencies, WIC vendors and WIC participants. This is a voluntary collection and FNS will use the information to monitor and strengthen WIC program modernization efforts. This collection does not request any personally identifiable information under the Privacy Act of 1974. According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, an agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a valid OMB control number. The valid OMB control number for this information collection is 0584-[xxxx]. The time required to complete this information collection is estimated to average .0167 hours/1 minute per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Service, Evidence, Analysis, and Regulatory Affairs Office, 1320 Braddock Place, 5th Floor, Alexandria, VA 22306, ATTN: PRA (0584-xxxx). Do not return the completed form to this address.

WIC & FMNP Outreach, Innovation, and Modernization Evaluation

What is the WIC Modernization Evaluation?

The WIC & FMNP Outreach, Innovation, and Modernization Evaluation is a study of WIC modernization efforts happening between 2022 and 2029. Congress provided the USDA Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) with $390 million and waiver authority to support WIC modernization. FNS has contracted with Mathematica and their partners, MEF Associates and the Nutrition Policy Institute (NPI), to conduct this study of how WIC modernization affects program participation and the experiences of WIC participants, staff, and vendors. For more information about WIC modernization, you can visit this website: WIC Modernization | Food and Nutrition Service (usda.gov).

Who is participating?

All WIC agencies nationwide! This includes WIC local agency staff like you, WIC State agency staff, WIC participants, and WIC vendor staff, including farmers/farmers’ market staff. Participation in the evaluation is mandatory for WIC local agencies. However, your participation in any study activities is voluntary.

What is involved?

• 10-minute surveys: within each State agency, we will ask up to 200 WIC participants, up to 20 vendor staff, and up to 40 State/local agency staff about their experiences with WIC. WIC participants and vendor staff will each receive a $10 incentive for completing a survey.

• Case studies: the study team will select 32 local agencies nationwide, and ask their staff, vendors, and participants about their experiences and satisfaction with new WIC projects at a deeper level than the surveys. If selected, the study team will visit your agency in-person. Before the visit, we will ask you to refer up to 6 local agency staff, up to 4 local WIC vendor and farmer/farmers’ market staff, and up to 20 WIC participants to be part of the data collection.

• Interviews: if selected for a case study, we will ask local agency staff and vendor staff about their experiences implementing their local modernization projects through 60-minute interviews. Vendor staff will receive a $50 incentive for participating in an interview.

• Focus groups: if selected for a case study, we will ask WIC participants about their experiences with recent updates to WIC through 90-minute focus groups. WIC participants will receive a $50 incentive for participating in a focus group.

• State agency interviews: we will ask State agency staff every year about their experience implementing the modernization projects.

What will happen with the information collected from the study?

The study team will use your important feedback to create data dashboards, annual reports on evaluation progress and findings, webinars, social media messaging, conference presentations, journal articles and more. We look forward to sharing our findings with you and other WIC stakeholders! Thank you!

When does everything happen?

• Data collection: Fall 2025 to Fall 2027 (surveys, case studies, and focus groups)

• Analysis and reporting: Early 2025 to Fall 2028