CPCM Improves Nutrition Security and Child Health Through WIC-CIAO Grant
The subaward was part of the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) Community Innovation and Outreach Project (WIC-CIAO). The University of South Dakota was one of 36 projects in 32 states. In 18 short months, CPCM’s WIC-CIAO team participated in 36 different outreach events, all made possible through valuable community partnerships, where more than 2,500 South Dakota families were provided with information about nutritional and child and maternal health resources available through WIC.
The WIC-CIAO project, complementary to the South Dakota Department of Health’s WIC program, began with parental input through a survey and focus groups that helped shape outreach opportunities and a statewide public awareness campaign.
“Our focus group findings showed a lack of awareness about qualifications, including fathers, as well as working people, foster parents and grandparents, can all apply,” Beth Bruggeman, CPCM program coordinator, stated. “We also found a strong understanding of the food benefits, but a lack of knowledge about additional benefits including nutrition counseling, breastfeeding support and referrals.”
A public awareness campaign was created to highlight these knowledge gaps. Print, digital and video messages were translated when possible, and a partnership with Avera Health resulted in a short video message available in eight languages used most by community health workers. This public awareness campaign bolstered visits to SD.gov/WIC and clicks to join or qualify for WIC.
Another component of the WIC-CIAO project aimed to increase knowledge and practices necessary for direct service providers working with families who have young children. More than 70 training sessions were held during the grant with an estimated 1,000 attendees participating, 81% of whom work directly with children. One training participant noted, “There were many things that I took from the training, but the biggest was the understanding of how many barriers exist for these families.”
Along with the trainings, service providers were given new tools through the Helpline Center, a centralized database of services for individuals in need of assistance. Helpline Center University on-demand trainingwas developed to increase caseworker and family knowledge of how to effectively use the Helpline Center to connect families to resources and services. A family resources website was launched to provide a search portal where families can search by location for resources available across the state.
USD School of Health Sciences student involvement proved to be a key component of the success of the WIC-CIAO project. Over the course of the year, multiple student workers and interns were integral to project planning and execution. Jason Simon-Ressler, a graduate student who focused on coordinating many of the community outreach events, was one of those students. His project poster analyzing the training data gathered during the project was selected to be presented at the American Public Health Association annual conference in October 2024.
“This project was a nice complement to the end of my coursework for the Master of Public Health program at USD and laid a foundation for my role with the South Dakota Department of Health,” Simon-Ressler said. “I truly appreciate the opportunity to develop a better understanding of the barriers that exist to accessing worthwhile services, including WIC.”
Overall, more than 36 events were attended by WIC-CIAO representatives, more than 4,800 outreach materials were directly distributed, and more than 2,500 individuals were engaged through block parties, festivals and resource and health fairs.
“We are deeply grateful for the opportunities the WIC-CIAO project provided for CPCM to build community partnership, provide learning opportunities for USD students, and help ensure that the nutritional needs of South Dakota’s children are met,” said Darla Biel, CPCM’s assistant director and the grant lead. “It is my hope that the training and resources developed during WIC-CIAO will continue to support current and future direct caregivers working with families in communities across the state.”
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