WIC National Workforce Strategy Development

Summary

USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) and Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) will work collaboratively to develop a national workforce strategy for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), to help shape the integration of diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility principles across the broader nutrition services workforce.

The joint agency initiative aims to strengthen the diversity and cultural competency of the WIC workforce, with the goals of increasing: 1) WIC participation through reaching those populations that are eligible, but not enrolled and 2) WIC participants’ likelihood of adopting nutrition education and breastfeeding support recommendations. Strategy development related to cultural representation and culturally responsive care should, at a minimum, include cultural competency to serve historically underserved populations participating in WIC and include strategies for state/local agencies, which include tribal organizations and territories, to identify and meet targeted needs that are not captured in this list. Cultural competency in this context is broader than race or ethnicity and includes socioeconomic and other cultural factors that may affect the efficacy of WIC Program services.

For this RFA, NIFA requests applications to develop a five-year National WIC Workforce Strategy. The amount available is approximately $750,000 for a single (1) award in fiscal year (FY) 2023, to be administered as a Cooperative Agreement. The project is to be completed within 6 months. The Cooperative Agreement will be between NIFA and the Grantee.

Eligibility

Eligibility Requirements Applicants for the National WIC Workforce Strategy Development (NWWSD) must meet all the requirements discussed in this RFA. Failure to meet the eligibility criteria by the application deadline may result in exclusion from consideration or, preclude NIFA from making an award. For those new to Federal financial assistance, NIFA’s Grants Overview provides highly recommended information about grants and other resources to help understand the Federal awards process.

Eligibility includes:

1. State Agricultural Experiment Station;
2. colleges and universities (including junior colleges offering associate degrees or higher, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Tribal Colleges, 1994 Land-Grant Institutions, Hispanic-serving agricultural colleges and universities (see NIFA's Hispanic Serving Agricultural Colleges and Universities page);
3. university research foundations;
4. other research institutions and organizations;
5. non-profit organizations
6. Federal agencies;
7. Governmental agencies
8. national laboratories;
9. private organizations or corporations;
10. individuals who are U.S. citizens, nationals, or permanent residents; and
11. any group consisting of two or more entities identified in a) through j).

Eligible institutions do not include foreign or international organizations.

See Also

• FNS press release
• WIC Modernization
• NIFA Funding Opportunity Page
• NIFA's WIC Workforce Development Initiative