The purpose of this study is to collect and compile data on participant and program characteristics to support the management, evaluation, and improvement of the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC).
WIC Participant and Program Characteristics (PC) 2026 will continue the compilation of data on current participants and program characteristics that began in 1984 and became biennial starting in 1988, making these the latest such reports to help the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) address the need for program information on WIC. Major topics of the reports include demographic characteristics of WIC participants, income and nutrition risk characteristics of WIC participants, national estimates of breastfeeding initiation for infants, and food package data.
Continuing data collection that began in PC 2024, MEF will subcontract to Westat on this study, and collect longitudinal data to track information on participants over time, and electronic benefit transfer (EBT) data to help understand purchasing patterns and food costs. MEF will lead an analysis with these data, as well as information about cost-containment practices from WIC State Plans, to analyze the effects of cost-containment practices on benefit redemption.