Government Solutions
Expanding access to nutritious foods for WIC participants
Why WIC Works
The Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program is one of the longest running, most effective nutrition initiatives in the United States. Ensuring expectant moms and their children have access to nutritious foods during pregnancy and in the early stages of growth improves health outcomes, infant feeding practices and cognitive development, and reduces long-term healthcare costs among a wide range of other benefits.
The positive impact on the health and wellbeing of mothers and their children through the WIC program is proved. Innovations that increase food access and the utilization of benefits can further reduce nutrition insecurity and improve health for more low-income families. That’s where the JPMA + Umoja Health come in.
Innovative Shopping Experiences
JPMA, the developers of the WICShopper and WICSmart applications, and Umoja Health have joined forces to introduce new shopping experiences for WIC participants. Together, our goal is to increase utilization of WIC benefits with simplified tools, innovative solutions, and access to nutritious, affordable foods delivered directly to homes.
WIC Mobile Shopping Benefits:
- Access for ALL – participants living in urban, suburban, rural and remote areas
- Choice of a wide variety of WIC-approved products at affordable prices
- Convenient direct-to-home delivery removes transportation, time and travel cost barriers for participants
- Real time benefits tracking
- NO DELIVERY FEES to participants or agencies
- Substitutions simplified – shopping selections reflect Umoja’s real-time inventory of WIC-approved products
- Auto-reorder feature ensures easy, consistent access to nutritious foods for busy households
- Protects participants who have high-risk health concerns or challenges
The ordering process through the WIC Shopper App is simple and intuitive with benefits tracking, pre-selected substitutions, order history, and reordering features.
Multiple Models Meet WIC Participants Where They Are
Some WIC shoppers prefer to get certain products from local retailers and farmers markets. Others like curbside shopping. Providing a range of options for WIC participants helps meet them where they are with choices for how and where they want to use their benefits to meet their needs. Introducing the WIC mobile shopping and home delivery model provides more choice, convenience, and flexibility for families that may face unique challenges to utilizing their benefits. Low-income families living in rural areas, for example, often have fewer choices for local retailers, longer distances to the store and other barriers that home delivery helps address. For more information, connect with our team[HYPERLINK] today.
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Increased accessibility in rural communities |
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Simple substitutions for out-of-stock items |
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No staff training needs |
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No delivery fees |
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Addresses food deserts |
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Real-time Benefits Tracking |
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Convenience |
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Transforming WIC Access to Serve More Families Together
State and regional agencies do incredible work implementing WIC’s mission of safeguarding the health of low-income women, infants, and children who are at nutrition risk. JPMA has been developing interactive benefits and education solutions to support WIC participants for more than 20 years. At Umoja Health, we are united in the drive for equity and access to quality food and better health for all. It’s the perfect partnership. And our focus is helping agencies provide a variety of shopping solutions for participants, expanding enrollment, increasing benefits utilization, and contributing to the health and wellbeing of women and children across the country.
