Opportunity to provide your feedback related to weight stigma among WIC participants
We are partnering with the University of Minnesota to help prevent weight stigma among our participants. We want to hear your perceptions of weight stigma as an issue among our participants and challenges and strengths our agencies have in preventing weight stigma. Your feedback will be used to develop professional trainings and identify any needed changes to our agency environment and participant-facing materials. If you are interested, complete a University of Minnesota Qualtrics Survey to schedule a zoom interview. Interviews will last 60-75 minutes and will occur outside of working hours. Participants will receive a $50 gift card for their time.
Worked for WIC over 30 years? We want to hear from you!
The Midwest Regional Office plans to highlight WIC’s 50th year celebration in their At the Table newsletter this summer by featuring staff interviews from each Midwest state. They are asking each state to identify and collect information from long-tenured local and state agency staff. We can submit multiple staff for consideration, and they will select some to highlight in the newsletter. If you have worked 30 years or longer, please fill out the My WIC Journey survey by Friday, May 24 and send a photo to tina.breitenbach@state.mn.us.
Apply for lactation focused funding opportunities!
There are two funding opportunities for lactation-focused work in local WIC agencies. Each is offering up to $5,000 towards lactation related work.
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Promoting equity in lactation- funding for projects to strengthen partnerships with the community while promoting WIC lactation services.
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Coffective Community Partnership Collaborative - get support implementing a new lactation-related project or accelerating an existing project.
Important dates:
- Both applications are due March 27.
- Projects must be completed by September 30.
Funding is pending and dependent on the federal budget. Applicants will be updated on any funding changes before projects start.
For more information and how to apply refer to: Additional Funding for Local WIC Agencies
Questions? Contact Rosie Pierce-Martin, 651-201-4428, Rosie.Pierce-Martin@state.mn.us.
Affordable flavors cookbook
In celebration of National Nutrition Month, we wanted to give a reminder about the Affordable Flavors Cookbook. It is still available for participants!
This is an exciting opportunity for WIC participants to gain free access to a budget-friendly meal plan and cookbook made by Kids Eat in Color! This resource includes a 30-day meal plan for a family of four, complete with shopping lists with a “W” next to WIC-allowed foods.
This resource is found on the MN WIC app and website.
To access it on the MN WIC App:
- Press the “Nutrition” tab, then “Recipes and Food Tips”, then “Recipes”. It is then the first link at the top of the WIC Recipes
To access it on the WIC website:
- Click on “Recipes” on the right navigation pane of the Welcome to WIC! webpage. It is the first link at the top of the WIC Recipes page.
It is also easy to find this resource by typing MN WIC Affordable Flavors into a search engine. For WIC staff to learn more about this resource, hear from the creator, Jennifer Anderson in this short video, Affordable Flavors: Helping parents take the brainwork out of feeding their families with few food resources.
Local agency staff should talk to their supervisor for approval before registering for training.
Reminder- register for 2024 state sponsored lactation courses
The Minnesota WIC program offers continuing education courses at no cost for WIC staff to increase their knowledge of various lactation topics.
Spaces are very limited.
Register quickly to ensure a spot in the training you want! MWRTrainings.com
Minnesota is prioritizing the following trainings:
- Live virtual USDA Breastfeeding Training hosted by the Kansas Breastfeeding Coalition (With a live in person DBE workday August 15)
- Love in the Margins
- Exclusive Pumping
- Certified Lactation Specialist (CLS)
- Parental and Infant Health during Lactation
- IBCLC Exam Prep for Lactation Professionals
- DBE Workshop
Note: The LCE Course, Book groups, Ethics, Peer Case Study Day and HUG Your Baby are NOT available for Minnesota WIC staff.
All Midwest Region WIC Programs will use a new shared website for registration.
Important tips:
- All registrations will be reviewed for application criteria and seat availability.
- Open all the drop downs and explore the course information on the website.
- The selection criteria are dependent on the state. There will be several questions to complete.
- Pay attention to the time zone (the region is across the Central and Eastern time zones)
- Let your supervisor know you’ve registered.
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Supervisors: If someone from your agency is no longer able to attend a training (schedule change, left the agency, etc.) please email Rosie.Pierce-Martin@state.mn.us so we can fill the open spot.
For information on available courses and registration visit: MWRTrainings.com
The Week Ahead
Check out upcoming trainings and meetings: Local Agency WIC Calendar
Find new job opportunities on the WIC Job Postings webpage.
Submit job postings using the WIC Job Postings survey.
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