Nourishing Young Families

The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) is a federally funded program that supports the health and nutritional needs of pregnant women, infants, and children up to age five. WIC serves more than 800,000 Californians.

An additional 500,000 women, infants, and children across our state could be reached by WIC but are missing out on critical nutrition resources that support optimal health and wellbeing.

Our Work

Nourish California advocates progressive policy solutions to help families better meet their basic needs through WIC.

For example, we work with state administrators to streamline enrollment and improve coordination between WIC and other government programs so there is “no wrong door” to accessing services. In tandem with our immigrant rights allies, we also push administrators to counter the fear and confusion caused by the federal administration’s "public charge” rule, which has caused many eligible families to disenroll from WIC and other nutrition programs.

Publications & Resources

Blog•Fresh•News & Media Releases•Press Release

Survey: Californians with Low or Moderate Income Worry About Running Out of Food Before They Can Afford to Buy More

November 17, 2021 • George Manalo-LeClair
For Release on November 17, 2021 Survey: Californians with Low or Moderate Income Worry About Running Out of Food Before They Can Afford to Buy More More Than Three in Five Report Actually Running Out of Food Contact: Angeles Nelson, Nourish California (English & Spanish) 619.376.6214 Lucia Del Puppo, FM3 Research (Survey and Methodology) 510.451.9521. Oakland, CA – A new statewide survey of Californians [...]
Blog

Congress Helps Avoid a Government Shutdown and Extends the WIC Bump

October 11, 2021 • Angeles Nelson
Contact your Members of Congress to send a thank you note for taking action to #ExtendTheWICBump Click Here Congress passed a Continuing Resolution to avoid a government shutdown last week and-thanks to your advocacy-the bill also extends the increase of the WIC fruit and vegetable benefit through December 2021. We are happy to share that nearly one million California moms, babies, and children will benefit [...]
Blog•Impact Stories

What’s Happening with WIC Online Purchasing?

October 11, 2021 • Melissa Cannon
The Issue At the start of the pandemic-as the world went into lockdown-we heard from so many of you about a key challenge to accessing food. Californians could shop online with their CalFresh benefits, but this option was still out of reach for thousands of families who relied on WIC. We heard from parents, including Lily, who worried about the health of her family [...]