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Amanda Marino is the advocacy and leadership program manager with Good Shepherd Food Bank, a nonprofit working to end hunger in Maine. Anna Korsen is the policy and program director with Full Plates Full Potential, a nonprofit working to end child hunger in Maine.
The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, more commonly known as WIC, is under threat as Congress negotiates a temporary funding bill to keep the government open. This critical program provides nearly 18,500 Maine women, infants and children with nutrition benefits to purchase healthy food, including critically important fruit and vegetable cash value benefits.
Rising costs of food, housing, child care and other basic household necessities are creating barriers to financial stability for many Maine families, which also keeps adequate nutrition out of reach. WIC is a critical part of Maine’s food security safety net, and there is substantial evidence linking participation to improvements in health outcomes for pregnant people and young children.
Earlier this month, the U.S. Census Bureau announced that a measure of child poverty doubled in the United States in 2022. Now is not the time to fall short in funding WIC, a successful evidence-based nutrition benefit for growing families.
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities predicts the proposed cuts included in House and Senate appropriations bills would leave a substantial funding gap for WIC, projecting that more than 1,900 low-income postpartum women and young children in Maine would be turned away from WIC if passed and a staggering 12,400 would have their fruit and vegetable benefits cut.
Since 1997, WIC has not had waiting lists due to bipartisan support. Any cuts in WIC funding risk the creation of waiting lists for families in need. Food security is critically important during the early ages of child development, and this is an issue that should rise above partisan conflicts. It’s imperative that Congress fund WIC adequately in both the short term and the full year to adhere to this longstanding bipartisan principle for WIC.
As of Aug. 1, the statewide average for WIC’s fruit and vegetable cash value benefit redemption rate was 88 percent in Maine, making it one of the most redeemed and highly utilized benefits. This benefit is a lifeline for kids and babies in our state. Since its introduction in 2009, WIC’s cash value benefit has increased fresh fruit consumption by 28.6 percent, frozen vegetable consumption by 27.8 percent and fresh vegetable consumption by 17.5 percent across the nation.
We have seen firsthand how the uncertainty of this funding affects the stress levels and well-being of WIC staff. WIC staff across the state are some of the kindest, most passionate and dedicated public servants you’ll meet. We worry how insufficient funding will have additional consequences in Maine such as reducing outreach efforts, reducing clinic staff, shortening clinic hours or even turning away eligible applicants.
WIC significantly alleviates food and nutrition insecurity, which in turn reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease of all participants, supports brain development and results in higher immunization rates in young children. We must invest in the next generation to ensure a healthy future for Maine.
