WIC Certification Discovery Sprint

Problem

The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) plays a critical role in improving the health and nutrition of low-income pregnant, breastfeeding, and non-breastfeeding postpartum women, and their infants and children up to age 5. In addition to nutritious supplemental foods, participants receive healthcare and social service referrals, nutrition education, and breastfeeding support.

Individuals and households enrolling in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) must go through a lengthy certification process. This involves--and requires--in-person appointments to go over intimate personal details about nutrition, demographics, and household dynamics.

Despite the program's correlation between improved health outcomes, only 57% of the population eligible for WIC participated in the program, as of 2018. In March 2021, the American Rescue Plan Act appropriated $390 million for WIC "outreach, innovation, and program modernization efforts, including appropriate waivers and flexibility, to increase participation in and redemption of benefits." This modernization funding presents an opportunity for the Food and Nutrition Service to think more broadly about how to increase participation while addressing the challenges participants face when interacting with WIC.

The certification process, albeit deemed necessary by the program, is cumbersome, time-consuming, and creates an unbearable burden on applicants and caseworkers, alike.

Solution

In May 2021, our team consisting of 2 product managers, 2 engineers, and 3 designers conducted a discovery sprint to better understand the WIC application and enrollment experience, from the applicant's point of view.

To better understand this burden and the challenges applicants face when embarking on the certification journey, a small team at USDS was asked to conduct a discovery sprint, focusing on the applicant experience during the certification process. We identified opportunities for additional research and future exploration, as well as proposed recommendations for process changes, and improvements to the applicant experience.

Process

Our team conducted 43 interviews with over 75 individuals over 3 weeks. We spoke with WIC directors across ten states, territories, and Indian Tribal Organizations (ITOs), 12 local WIC clinics, 3 of which we shadowed in-person. We also met with civic technologists, advocacy groups, federal government employees, community-based organizations, state IT directors, and vendors.

We selected a diverse group of states, territories, and ITOs to include in our research, taking into account region, overall population and population density, WIC eligibility and coverage rates, urban and rural populations, and localities with non-citizen and immigrant communities to better understand the diversity of experiences and barriers that individuals face when enrolling in WIC.

During our clinic visits, we were able to connect directly with WIC applicants and shadow their certification journey. Some applicants came in person, while others had remote certification appointments.

From this research, I compiled a future-state journey map from the applicant's perspective, pulling in what we heard from the interviews and conversations we had. This journey map demonstrates the possibilities for improving the certification journey.

Outcome

We delivered a report on our discovery sprint findings and recommendations. Since this sprint, our team has been working closely with our stakeholders at USDA to make progress towards the future-state journey included in our report.

This project was completed while I was working at the US Digital Service.