Making WIC Work for Multicultural Communities - Food Research ...

Targeting WIC staff
Yet another California Fit WIC program goal was to increase staff awareness of childhood
overweight/obesity and help them improve their own health behaviors, as outlined in the staff training
manual “Fit WIC: Supporting WIC Families and Staff.” For instance, the project included special trainings
and workshops to assist staff in discussing weight, healthy eating, and physical activity with WIC
participants. The project also encouraged all local WIC agencies to develop staff wellness programs.
California WIC believes WIC staff are the best role models for WIC families so it is important to support
staff to make health lifestyle choices.
Targeting Other Community Members
In the community, California Fit WIC developed gardens, implemented task forces on physical activity
and nutrition, and drafted physical activity resource guides. For example, the program produced a
training kit for communities to address overweight/obesity among children entitled “Children and Weight:
What Communities Can Do.” The Fit WIC program also promoted farmers’ markets near WIC clinics and
established a partnership with local restaurants to increase community members’ fruit and vegetable
consumption.
The Fit Families Novela Series
In an effort to make Fit WIC accessible to families of diverse cultural
and racial/ethnic backgrounds, the Center for Weight and Health at the
University of California, Berkeley created the Fit Families Novela Series,
a set of three videonovelas and three fotonovelas addressing Fit WIC
topics in both English and Spanish. This allows Fit WIC to reach the
three largest WIC populations in California, the Latino, White, and
African American communities.
These bilingual materials depict realistic characters striving to create
healthy snacks, limit their TV watching, and increase their physical
activity. The California WIC State Agency distributed the video and
fotonovelas to all of their local agencies (over 600 sites). The intent
was to incorporate them into nutrition education classes for WIC
participants throughout the state.
National Fit WIC
In 1999, the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) at the United States Department of Agriculture launched
Fit WIC, a three-year research and evaluation project, in five WIC Agencies: California, Kentucky,
Vermont, Virginia, and the Intertribal Council of Arizona (ITCA). According to FNS, Fit WIC is “a collection
of social-environmental strategies to promote healthy weight [and prevent obesity/overweight] among
children enrolled in WIC.” The Fit WIC implementation manual contains more information about all of
these initiatives, as well as lessons learned and recommendations.
Project Evaluation
The California Fit WIC program administered a survey to all staff in order to assess “staff knowledge,
practices, intervention ideas, and perceived barriers to implementation of programs to prevent
overweight among WIC children.” The survey instrument was developed by the WIC State Agency, the
University of California, Berkeley, and Samuels and Associates consulting group.
The State Agency and Berkeley also administered a similar survey to WIC participants in order to assess
the effectiveness of the Fit WIC project on WIC families. They compared survey findings from three Fit
WIC intervention sites (Pico Rivera, Santa Paula, and Grand Avenue) and three control sites (Flower
Street, Ventura, and County Main). The surveys were distributed in both English and Spanish.
Making WIC Work for Multicultural Communities: Best Practices in Outreach and Nutrition Education 26