1. Farmers Market WIC Program

2. WIC Program
WIC program provides supplemental nutritious food to Pregnant and breastfeeding women and children ages 0-5
People enrolled in program are given an eWIC card where monthly benefits are loaded
People receive a set amount of money to buy foods like f/v, grains, eggs, and dairy products. People may receive as little as $8/month in F/V benefits

3. WIC at Farmers Markets
Wanted to create a WIC doubling program at our market similar to the DUFB program that matches SNAP benefits.
Using WIC at farmers market is much more restrictive and much more regulated than using SNAP at farmers market.
USDA restrictions:
Worked with CU law clinic regarding USDA regulations:
USDA wants each vendor to be authorized. Not feasible for Boulder. Investigated if we could authorize market as a whole and have WIC customers exchange benefits for market currency. Looked into many iterations including offering $8 boxes from select tents, offering WIC bucks. USDA would not approve any of this because they didn’t want stigma related to exchanging benfeits for WIC bucks. Every last penny needed to be used. WIC clients needed to have same choice as all other shoppers. WIC bucks would have to expire each month like the benefits on the card. We worked with a CU law clinic to meet all of these criteria but still were not able to get approval. So….we started our own WIC program.

4. Revised Program
Decided to offer simplified WIC program. Had funding from SSB grant. Piloted program fall week pilot. Sent direct mailing. Called 600 Boulder WIC families. . Offered $40/market. Spent $11,000 in 6 weeks. Full season implementation in 2018.

5. Program Participation
2018 (April-September)
Overall # of visits: 3477
280 families served
590 kids served
$69,540 distributed
2017 (Oct-Nov)
Overall # of visits: 271
130 families
275 kids served
$10,840 distributed
76% had never visited market before

6. Farmers Market WIC 2019
$120,000 in WIC bucks to distribute. BCFM will have full time food access coordinator position to help run the program. Program participants will need to have 2019 farmers market WIC card. Will work with WIC office to send direct mailing to all Boulder residents with the farmers market card in March. Will call all WIC recipients to let them know about changes to the program. WIC educators will give people who enroll in program after March a farmers market WIC card during their intake appointment.

7. Contact Information
Jill Strange, Healthy Food Access Coordinator ,
Amelia Hulbert, HEAL Specialist ,