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Our WIC CAN HELP campaign is designed to help the one million California families we serve to survive and protect their children’s health in these tough times. The campaign builds local agency staff capacity to inform and connect WIC families with all possible community assistance programs, from dental care to foreclosure counseling to utility assistance.

WIC CAN HELP identifies lesser-known referral resources, and makes sure the local WIC network can easily share the information with WIC participants using downloadable multi-language flyers or information. Each month, we share a new resource and referral “survival kit” which highlights assistance or program linkages that local WIC staff might suggest to young families in need. WIC CAN HELP is funded by grants from The California Endowment and Kaiser Permanente Community Benefits.

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Home›About Us›Accomplishments

Accomplishments 2010

January

  • Funded by The California Endowment, CWA launches a new monthly web resource to bolster local information and referrals for WIC participants. WIC CAN HELP highlights a wide variety of programs that can help families survive the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.
  • All CWA staff busy throughout the year promoting new WIC food package changes at numerous conferences, public meetings, and media interviews.
  • CWA staff joins forces with other advocates to lobby for better federal breastfeeding policy at the US Breastfeeding Committee meeting in DC.
  • Commissioned by CWA, a ground-breaking framing analysis, Talking About Breastfeeding: Why the Health Argument Isn’t Enough, is released at the USBC coalition conference by Lori Dorfman of Berkeley Media Studies Group.
  • CWA joins forces with NWA, AAP and the Center on Budget & Policy Priorities to urge federal action on proliferating “functional ingredients” in WIC foods and formula.

February

  • Obama Administration releases its FFY 2011 WIC Budget proposal with substantial increases in caseload funding, a $2 increase for children receiving the fresh produce checks, and more funds for breastfeeding peer counselors and automation.
  • CWA submits comments to USDA on Final Rule covering the food package changes, and encourages local WIC practitioners to do the same.
  • First Lady Michelle Obama kicks off national campaign, Let’s Move! designed to prevent childhood obesity; and Congress signals intent to pass the Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization bill by summer.
  • Special Legislative session approves a stopgap budget plan to staunch the flow of red ink until July. State furloughs and other fiscal restraints continue to hamper WIC operations.
  • CWA supports AB 2468 (de Leon) and SB 797 (Pavley), bills that support workplace breastfeeding and BPA elimination from baby items, among others.

March

  • With support from CWA, California WIC leader Kiran Saluja testifies eloquently about WIC and breastfeeding in front of the House Committee on Education and Labor, chaired by George Miller (D-CA).
  • CWA goes to Washington DC with 50 well-trained Ambassadors and holds a well-attended Hill Briefing in the new Capitol Visitors Center to educate and inform staff about our top reauthorization priorities.
  • California WIC leaders Linnea Sallack, Kiran Saluja, Gayle Hoxter, and Laurie Haessley star at the National WIC Association’s Breastfeeding Summit at Union Station, Washington, DC.
  • WIC Ambassadors Shelly Lewis and Pina Hernandez share their WIC concerns directly with USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack at a listening session in East Los Angeles.
  • CWA holds its first Breastfeeding Policy Briefing at the State Capitol, designed to link breastfeeding with health equity and prevention policy.
  • Congress finally passes historic Health Care Reform bill, making sweeping reforms that impact every American, requiring menu labeling, worksite lactation accommodation, and funding clinical and community-based prevention services including nutrition and breastfeeding support.
  • The Senate Agriculture Committee marks up S. 3307, the Healthy, Hunger Free Kids Act with $4.5 billion in new funding for meal programs and WIC, including a last-minute provision to study functional ingredients in WIC foods and formula.
  • Winter WIC Watch introduces WIC Goes Platinum campaign.

April

  • Los Angeles County breastfeeding advocates and CWA celebrate major funding infusions from ARRA and First Five LA to support Baby-Friendly improvements in hospitals and worksites.
  • White House confab on child obesity features Surgeon General Regina Benjamin urging audience to focus on breastfeeding as key preventive strategy.
  • CWA’s newly-launched WIC Worksite Wellness program works with five developing local agencies to complete Accreditation process!
  • CWA’s Kinkini Banerjee works closely with Aspirations E-Advocacy to plan for overhaul and expansion of CWA’s web-based communications.

May

  • White House releases Plan to “end obesity in a generation” and includes strong mention of breastfeeding and other preventive efforts focused on early nutrition.
  • Well over 1,200 attendees packed CWA Eighteenth Annual Meeting to kick off WIC Goes Platinum! Campaign, cook WIC foods, work out, and learn new WIC skills. WIC Participant Elizabeth Salaam moves and challenges us with her vision of a better WIC experience, and national PA star Toni Yancey rocks the house with her surprise appearance.
  • CWA launches the Academy for Participant-Centered Leadership with a special booth at the sold-out Trade Show. Special Conference Edition of WIC Watch published for attendees.
  • The California WIC Community says farewell to Division Chief Linnea Sallack with a handmade local agency quilt and heartfelt messages during a special luncheon at the conference.
  • The Journal of Nutrition Education publishes a WIC Supplement featuring four different and successful California WIC interventions showing that nutrition education works!
  • The Center on Budget & Policy Priorities releases a lengthy analysis of functional ingredients and their impact on WIC food and formula costs, which is widely read on the Hill.

June

  • Congress stalls on passing a CNR. CWA urges House members to Move the Bill.
  • WIC & Breastfeeding Policy Day:  a record-breaking 80 trained Ambassadors urge their state elected officials to support bills and fight budget cuts, joined by speakers on the budget, BPA, soda tax and other topics.
  • Laurie True presents WIC-related recommendations to Committee on Obesity Prevention Policies for Young Children at the IOM in Washington.
  • State and local WIC veteran and founding CWA member Michele van Eyken is appointed Chief of the WIC Division at CDPH.
  • CWA and CBC convene regular meeting of the California Breastfeeding Roundtable meeting to continue concrete progress on breastfeeding policy change.Medi-Cal pilot project in Los Angeles begins bringing together Health Net, California Medical Center Hospital, Eisner Pediatric and Family Medical Center, and PHFE WIC to improve access to breast pumps through Medi-Cal.

July

  • In partnership with CBPP, CWA holds a well-attended Capitol Hill Briefing, as well as two Webinars entitled Promoting Breastfeeding and Ensuring Science-based Decisions.
  • George Miller’s Education and Labor Committee marks up an ambitious $8 billion House Child Nutrition bill containing dozens of WIC reforms and strong language on additives. But the bill lacks funding offsets.
  • Congressional appropriators fund WIC at $7.1 billion for FFY 2011, reflecting lower food costs and leveled-off participation.
  • With CWA support, SB 797 (BPA-Pavley) miraculously passes the Assembly, despite onslaught of corporate opposition. The State fiscal year begins without a budget.
  • Annual Breastfeeding edition of WIC Watch,The WIC Breastfeeding Revolution come out, and CWA transforms the bi-weekly Flash with an updated format.
  • The inaugural class of the Academy for Participant-Centered Leadership holds its first training in Sacramento.

August

  • The Senate Child Nutrition bill finally goes to the floor, but to overcome GOP opposition, Agriculture Committee Chair Blanche Lincoln decides to use future SNAP benefits as an offset, and strips out functional ingredients provision.
  • Fourth Annual Statewide Breastfeeding Walk and Mother-Baby Friendly Awards held across the state and at the State Capitol, with great media coverage.
  • CWA releases Making the Case for Breastfeeding: The Health Argument Isn’t Enough, a handy brief for media advocates, followed by big web “buzz.”
  • CWA receives generous grant from Kaiser Permanente to support core operations and policy work.
  • CWA and local allies hold Breastfeeding Policy Briefings in San Francisco, Bakersfield, San Diego, and Santa Clara to build support and partnerships for statewide policy reforms.

September

  • AB 2468 passes the Legislature but is vetoed by the Governor. SB 797 loses by just two votes in the Senate after fierce floor fight.
  • Laurie True writes an opinion piece for The Hill, urging House to support the additives provision despite corporate pressure.
  • A split widens among advocates over using future SNAP benefits to pay for child nutrition, and the Child Nutrition bill is in danger of failing.
  • CDC releases influential State Breastfeeding Report Cards showing California making gains as compared to other states.
  • Three more WIC agencies are certified to become Well WIC Worksites!
  • California Nutrition Corps scholarship applications sent out to local agencies.
  • About 300 WIC managers attend Road Map from Gold to Platinum, a one-day conference held before the NWA Nutrition and Breastfeeding Conference in San Diego. APL class is introduced, and meets concurrently.
  • The CWA Board kicks off annual 2011 conference planning for WIC Works: Getting Real About Going Platinum!
  • Along with colleagues from MCAH and the Breastfeeding Task Force of Greater Los Angeles, Karen Farley presents, Leveraging Hospital Breastfeeding Data to Improve Maternity Care Practices and Breastfeeding Rates, at NWA Nutrition and Breastfeeding Conference.
  • CWA assists with curriculum planning for the 6th Biennial Childhood Obesity Conference, planned for June 28- July 1.

October

  • Congress adjourns for elections without passing a Child Nutrition bill; WIC authorized to run until early December. CWA urges support for immediate passage of the Senate bill in the lame duck session.
  • The long-delayed 2011State Budget is passed, with some cuts avoided, others deferred, and still more blue-penciled by the Governor, notably child care for thousands of working families.
  • CWA co-sponsors the Los Angeles Breastfeeding Summit and assists with publication of a new report released by the LA Breastfeeding Task Force at the event.
  • CWA re-organization is implemented. CWA Board holds annual Retreat.
  • CWA is invited to distribute Breastfeeding framing documents to all attendees of the Academy for Breastfeeding Medicine meeting in San Francisco.
  • CWA’s Karen Farley trains newly-minted WIC Regional Breastfeeding Liaisons on ways to coordinate WIC lactation services with Medi-Cal providers and HMO’s.
  • Ongoing administrative advocacy with DHCS to strengthen support for breastfeeding in Medi-Cal results in new Provider Bulletin that streamlines access to breast pumps.

November

  • Mid-term and gubernatorial elections change the political landscape for WIC in Washington and Sacramento.
  • UCLA and UC Berkeley contact participating local Agencies for CDC Worksite Wellness Study improving physical activity and nutrition among WIC employees.
  • CWA launches new Website and WIC Blog and relocates offices to Davis, California.
  • California WIC food package outcome studies and other innovations are featured at ADA, APHA, Altarum and other national meetings.

December

  • CWA awarded a grant from The California Endowment to pursue innovative policy reforms linking WIC to Healthcare Reform.
  • CWA and CBC convene second regular meeting of the California Breastfeeding Roundtable to continue concrete progress on breastfeeding policy change.
  • California Nutrition Corps scholarships awarded to WIC employees.