WIC Research, Policy and Practice Hub WIC Research, Policy and Practice Hub


About the National WIC Association

This website was created and is maintained by the National WIC Association (NWA).

NWA is the go-to voice of and for WIC leaders at the nation’s more than 12,000 WIC locations across the country. We:

  • provide member-driven advocacy
  • educate, guide, and support WIC staff
  • drive innovation to improve and strengthen WIC for the health of the nation’s 7.3 million women, infants, and children who participate in WIC and their families.
Our mission

is to provide our members with tools and leadership to expand and sustain effective nutrition services for mothers and young children.

Our members

are state and local WIC agencies; individuals, students and retired members; and industry members whose vision for WIC aligns with our own.

We are governed by

a board of directors comprising a geographically diverse group of state, local, and Indian Nation volunteer representatives from across the United States. Board members help shape the future of NWA and the WIC program.

We advocate for WIC.

We educate policy makers to help them understand maternal/child nutrition and health needs, and advocate for a stronger, more robust WIC program. We engage with USDA and Administration leadership, communicating our policy priorities. We stay abreast of changes in policies that impact WIC and share them with our members.

We drive innovation.

We connect our members to the latest news, information, tools and resources, equipping them to develop innovative, creative implementation strategies and assure top drawer WIC services for mothers and young children.

We empower WIC leaders.

We connect state and local programs and WIC leaders to one another and to policy makers to ensure their unique perspectives are essential components of policy discussions, empowering members to have significant influence on WIC program policies and operations.

We grow WIC leaders.

We provide ongoing training and education opportunities through:

  • Weekly webinars on timely topics.
  • Three yearly conferences on topics ranging from leadership to technology, nutrition to management, and other valuable subjects.
  • Our Leadership Academy – an online certificate program that provides training for WIC staff to become successful WIC voices and leaders.

Recent Accomplishments


In 2019, NWA began another a three-year period of the national recruitment & retention campaign to bring more families to WIC, keep families on WIC longer, and improve public perception of the program.

NWA received a three-year grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to support a new NWA project called Catalyzing Retention Efforts in WIC (CREW): Developing and Disseminating Evidence-Based Resources to Enhance the WIC Participant Experience.

NWA received funding from the David & Lucile Packard Foundation to hold regional convenings with WIC staff for advocacy and social media trainings, discuss WIC’s role in addressing maternal and infant mortality, and explore growing state WIC associations. So far, WIC agencies in New Jersey, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands have hosted convenings.

NWA submitted public comments on menu labeling, added sugars, the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, FDA’s Nutrition Innovation Strategy, detention of migrant children, and the 2020 Census.