USDA Visits Portland WIC Clinic

Visit Highlights Actions to Engage More Immigrant and Asylum-Seeking Families

PORTLAND, ME-March 5, 2024- Today, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Deputy Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services Stacy Dean visited The Opportunity Alliance’s office in Portland. During the visit, Deputy Under Secretary Dean heard updates from the staff of the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (known as WIC) about a grant from USDA Food & Research Action Center Community Innovation And Outreach, which the program received in May of 2023. The $706,000 federal grant was awarded to operate an outreach program to make the WIC Program more accessible to historically marginalized families in Cumberland County.

Through the grant partnership with MaineHealth Access to Care, WIC has placed three employees at Maine Medical Center in Portland. The grant also will be used to partner with the Maine Immigrant Rights Coalition who will lead community qualitative data gathering efforts, and the development of community-informed health and nutrition educational materials. The Deputy Under Secretary was also briefed on Maine WIC’s Shopping Experience Innovation grant from the USDA which funds WIC Community Health Workers in York, Cumberland, and Androscoggin counties. WIC Community Health Workers coach families as they learn to navigate Western-stye grocery stores and the nuances of WIC benefits, while providing important cross-cultural education.

Anna Bullett, Senior Director of Health & Nutrition for The Opportunity Alliance states that “Some of the immigrant community – many of whom come to Maine in their journey to seek asylum in the United States – often do not know what benefits they qualify for or how to use them. The families, many of whom are fleeing violence and oppression, usually have no income or access to childcare and are unable to obtain employment due to federal immigration rules which prohibit asylum-seekers from working for the first six months they are in the United States. WIC provides critical access to healthy foods to Maine’s youngest new residents during a vulnerable time.”

WIC is a supplemental program that provides money on a card to purchase specific nutritious foods and infant formula at WIC approved grocery stores and farm stands, and nutrition education to pregnant and breastfeeding people and children up to age 5 years.

“WIC is an incredibly powerful health intervention,” said USDA Deputy Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services Stacy Dean. “The more families we can connect to WIC the better. It’s better for the families and for our country.”

The U.S. Department of Agriculture, through a cooperative agreement with USDA's Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) and the Food Research & Action Center (FRAC), has awarded $16 million in subgrants funding from the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 to 36 projects aimed at testing innovative outreach strategies to increase participation and equity in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, through WIC CIAO projects.

Maine Department of Health and Human Services Commissioner Jeanne Lambrew also joined the visit, stating, “The Women, Infants and Children program, under the leadership of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention, serves nearly 18,000 people across Maine, providing innovative, culturally-informed access to healthy foods, nutrition counseling and breastfeeding support. We thank our federal partners for helping us to bring this support to Maine families at a critical time in their lives.”

About The Opportunity Alliance To build better lives and stronger communities across Maine, The Opportunity Alliance (TOA) supports people with the programs and resources they need to improve their health, safety, and stability. TOA envisions a community in which all Mainers have access to high-quality childcare and early childhood education, safe and stable housing, effective and compassionate mental health and substance use treatment, and basic needs support. TOA operates mainly in Cumberland/York Counties, while certain programs – MYAN, Maine Crisis Line, 211 – operate statewide. TOA covers four sectors of service: Childcare and Early Childhood Education, Behavioral Health & Wellness, Community Well-Being, and Poverty & Economic Supports. Each year, TOA’s 50 integrated programs serve over 20,000 people in the community, plus 200,000+ calls are answered by the Maine Crisis Line and 211 Maine. Learn more at www.opportunityalliance.org

Back row, left to right:  Lizbeth Silbermann, Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) Regional Administrator;  Jeanne Lambrew, Maine DHHS Commissioner; Stacy Dean, Deputy Under Secretary for USDA’s Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services. Front row, left to right: Ginger Roberts-Scott, Director, Maine WIC Nutrition Program; Lilian Vitale, TOA WIC Special Projects Coordinator, Anna Bullett, Senior Director, Health & Nutrition at TOA

Contact: Lily Lynch

Lily.lynch@opportunityalliance.org

207-523-5030