Civil Rights (CR) CR-3 Data Collection and Reporting 1 Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention WIC Nutrition Program Effective: October 1, 2012

Policy No. CR-3 Revised: October 1, 2021 Data Collection and Reporting Authority 7 CFR §246.8(a)(3) 22 MRSA §255 and §1951 10-144 CMR Chapter 286, §III.D.9 OMB Directive 15 Policy 1. Local Agency staff shall collect and record racial and ethnic participation data in the WIC Management Information System (MIS). Procedures 1. Each applicant/participant shall be asked to self-identify by race and ethnic group 1.1. The interviewer will explain that the collection of racial and ethnic data is for the purposes of compliance with Civil Rights laws and that their response will not affect program eligibility. 1.2. The interviewer shall inform the applicant that racial and ethnic data are collected for aggregate statistical purposes only and are not used to identify individuals. 1.3. Applicants shall be asked to self-identify race and ethnicity from the following options: 1.3.1. Ethnicity 1.3.1.1.Hispanic or Latino: a person of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin, regardless of race. 1.3.1.2.Not Hispanic or Latino 1.3.2. Race 1.3.2.1.American Indian or Alaska Native: a person having origins in any of the original peoples of North and South America (including Central America), and who maintains tribal affiliation or community attachment. 1.3.2.2.Asian: a person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent.

Civil Rights (CR) CR-3 Data Collection and Reporting 2 1.3.2.3.Black or African American: a person having origins in any of the original black racial groups of Africa. 1.3.2.4.Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander: a person having origins in any of the original peoples of Hawaii, Guam, Samoa, or other Pacific Islands. 1.3.2.5.White: a person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa. 1.4. Applicants/participants have the option to refuse to self-identify without penalty. 1.4.1. When an applicant does not provide self-identified racial and ethnicity data, the staff member shall inform the applicant/participant that race and ethnicity will be recorded using visual observation in order to record the information as accurately as possible. 1.5. Local Agency staff shall not challenge or change race and ethnic information provided by applicants. 2. The State Agency shall ensure the following when collecting civil rights data: 2.1 All racial/ethnic categories are collected and reported as part of the Program Participant Characteristics report 2.2 Racial/ethnic data definitions are in accordance with OMB Directive 15 guidance. 2.3 Participant characteristic data collected for the WIC MIS includes the number of persons who are certified to receive WIC benefits 2.4 Clinic procedures are in place to ensure the data are collected accurately and stored securely (See Policy IS-4, Data Security). 2.5 Data and records are accessible only to authorized personnel, in accordance with data release procedures (See Policy OM-16, Confidentiality and Privacy). 2.6 Data is permanently maintained in the WIC Management Information System.