Approximately 1 in every 10 Americans benefits from the Food Stamp Program, USDA's largest food assistance program. However, USDA also offers other, less widely known food programs that serve special populations. These include the Special Supplemental Food Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC); the WIC Farmers' Market Nutrition Program (FMNP); and the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations (FDPIR), all administered by USDA's Food and Nutrition Service. The Administration on Aging in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services oversees the Nutrition Program for the Elderly (NPE) with financial and commodity support from USDA.
Special Supplemental Food Program for Women, Infants, and Children
WIC's goal is to improve the health of pregnant, breastfeeding, and nonbreastfeeding postpartum women; infants; and children under 5 years old, by providing supplemental foods, nutrition education, and access to health services. Eligibility is determined by income (185 percent of Federal poverty income guidelines or below, or participation in the Aid to Families with Dependent Children, Food Stamp, or Medicaid Programs). Applicants must also be at nutritional risk as determined by a health professional.
Each month, more than 5 million participants receive vouchers that can be redeemed at retail food stores for specific foods that research has shown are rich sources of the nutrients frequently lacking in the diet of low-income mothers and children.
The program nurtures new mothers who breastfeed, so that they can stay healthy and successfully nurse their babies. Infants and children receive foods that will help them grow and prepare them to learn in school.
WIC also provides nutrition education, which helps participants to form good eating habits, and refers them to other local health and social services.
A recent study showed that women who participated in the WIC program during their pregnancies had lower Medicaid costs for themselves and their babies than did women who did not participate. Each dollar spent in prenatal WIC benefits was found to be more than offset by reduced Medicaid costs for both mother and baby after birth. For every WIC dollar invested in pregnant women, between $1.77 and $3.13 in Medicaid costs is saved for newborns and their mothers. For newborns only, the savings range from $2.84 to $3.90.
WIC works, but it does not work alone. WIC is a "gateway" program. Many people enter the social service system through WIC. During their first visit to the WIC clinic, they learn about other programs designed to meet their needs, such as the Food Stamp Program, the Aid to Families with Dependent Children Program, and the Medicaid Program. At all levels, WIC staff work closely with other agencies that provide complementary services to participants, including prenatal care, infant and childhood immunization, and alcohol and drug abuse counseling. Through the WIC Program, USDA has also assumed a leading role in the promotion of breastfeeding, which is generally the best way to nourish infants.
Maria Foster of Springfield, VA, was having a difficult pregnancy. When her weight fell to 85 pounds, she entered the hospital. She was soon discharged, 5 pounds heavier. But weight was not all she had gained. Rebecca King, a nutritionist at the hospital, counseled Foster on nutrition and immediately enrolled her in WIC, which allowed her to stretch her limited earnings as a domestic helper to include many of the foods she needed during her pregnancy. The monthly food package for pregnant and breastfeeding women includes milk, cheese, eggs, cereals, and peanut butter, dry beans, or peas.
King continued to advise her on nutrition during her pregnancy, specifically on the importance of WIC foods in her diet Instead of the small, sickly infant she originally feared she might have, Foster gave birth to healthy 7-pound, 7-ounce Cindy Vanessa. Foster followed King's advice and breastfed her baby. While she breastfed, she continued to participate in WIC, and thus to receive the high-protein foods she required for nursing.
WIC Farmers' Market Nutrition Program
In some areas, WIC recipients can participate in USDA's newest food assistance program, the WIC Farmers' Market Nutrition Program (FMNP). The program began in 1992 and provides WIC participants with coupons that can be used to buy fresh fruits and vegetables at authorized farmers' markets.
WIC participants receive $10-20 a year in FMNP coupons, in addition to their regular WIC food benefits. They can use the coupons to buy produce from farmers who have been authorized by the State to accept them. The State agency also provides nutrition education to encourage FMNP recipients to improve their diets by adding fresh fruits and vegetables and to advise them in preparing the foods they buy with FMNP coupons.
The FMNP is now authorized in certain areas of 11 States: Connecticut, Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas, Vermont, and Washington. New State agencies will be added as funds become available.
States that choose to operate the FMNP must contribute at least 30 percent of the total cost of the program.
In 1991, USDA and the Wind River Indian Reservation in Wyoming added a new nutrition education initiative to the FDPIR menu. USDA's Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP), administered by the Extension Service, provided a 3-week basic attrition training course at the University of Wyoming for two aides hired from the reservation. The aides returned to the reservation o conduct cooking demonstrations, hold nutrition workshops, and counsel individual families in their homes.
Through home counseling, nutrition aide Val Whiteman taught Josephine Lynch, of the Arapaho Tribe, to deal successfully with a serious health condition. Lynch was overweight and required insulin injections to control her diabetes. Whiteman helped her to improve her diet, and she lost 57 pounds. Her eyesight also stabilized. Through proper attrition, Lynch also ended the need for injections. Her doctor could prescribe oral medication instead, and he considered her diabetes o be under control. Other Indian tribal organizations are adapting successful efforts like he Wind River initiative to their own tribal environments.
Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations
The Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations (FDPIR) provides an alternative to the Food Stamp Program (FSP) for low-income Native Americans. In 1974, Congress mandated operation of the FSP in all counties nationwide. At that time, many Native Americans expressed a preference for continuation of the Needy Family Commodity Distribution Program, through which they had traditionally received food assistance. They indicated that the remote location of most reservations makes it difficult to participate in the FSP.
Food stamp offices, as well as grocery stores where Food Stamps can be transacted, are often located far from where Native Americans live. Furthermore, the few, smaller stores characteristically found in such remote rural areas tend to have higher prices, thus reducing the purchasing power of Food Stamps. In response to these concerns, Congress established the FDPIR as an alternative to Food Stamps in 1977. Eligible households cannot participate simultaneously in both programs, but may switch from one to the other on a monthly basis. The program is administered by States and Indian tribal organizations.
Nutrition Program for the Elderly
Established by the Older Americans Act of 1965, the Nutrition Program for the Elderly (NPE) provides prepared meals to persons at least 60 years old and their spouses regardless of age. Eligibility is based solely on age; a means test is not required. USDA provides per-meal support in the form of commodities or cash for meals that average one-third of the Recommended Daily Allowance of nutrients. Projects must serve at least one meal a day for 5 or more days each week, except in rural areas, where States can approve less frequent meal service.
NPE offers congregate meals served in recreation centers or other facilities and "Meals on Wheels" delivered directly to the homebound elderly. Many older Americans are not able or inclined to cook for themselves, and they may live in relative isolation. Congregate feeding addresses both of these tendencies by providing nutritious meals in a social setting. Meals on wheels responds to the needs of the frail and homebound elderly, who might otherwise have no alternative but an extended-care residential facility.