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

Maternal Wellbeing


The Role of the WIC Program in Improving Peri-Conceptional Nutrition: A Small Grants Program

The University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) is managing a small-grants research program, funded by USDA FNS. Through a competitive process, UCLA awarded seven grants in June 2012. The two-year projects to academic researchers, in partnership with WIC agencies, focus on the role that the WIC program is playing and can play in improving nutrition in pre-conceptional and periconceptional (between pregnancies) periods. FNS and UCLA anticipate that the grants will foster future collaboration and additional outside funding, along with findings that can inform WIC program development and nutrition education nationwide. Grantees presented their findings at a grantee conference in August 2015. Descriptions of the small grants awarded are available on the web at: https://www.fns.usda.gov/ops/role-wic-program-improving-peri-conceptional-nutrition-small-grants-program.