Rutgers New Jersey Medical School (NJMS) WIC agency’s project aimed to increase WIC awareness and enrollment among families in the Ironbound district in the northern part of Newark, New Jersey.
Rutgers NJMS established a WIC satellite site and created a centralized application process. Working with social services partners, they increased pre-certification and follow-up certification appointments by ensuring participants are being offered WIC at the point of service as opposed to a referral at the end of service.
Rutgers NJMS used feedback on WIC application and redemption barriers from community surveys to develop educational materials and toolkits to address community-identified challenges with WIC benefit redemption.
Lessons learned help direct future work in streamlining of WIC application and referral processes and strengthening partnerships and work between WIC agencies and vendors.
