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Goal II: Improve the health status of Vermont WIC participants.

Objective 1: Reduce to not more than 10 percent the proportion of two-, three- and four-year old children that have BMIs above the 95th percentile. Reduce to not more than 10 percent the proportion of two-, three- and four-year old children that have BMI’s between the 85th and 95th percentile.

Reference: Healthy People 2030 Goal NWS–04: Reduce the proportion of children and adolescents with obesity to 15.5% Activities: • Work with local WIC staff, partner agencies and programs to incorporate Fit WIC activities into ongoing prevention efforts. Utilize the Nutrition Education Workgroup to share ideas and support these efforts. • Continue partnering with Vermont Parks Forever to grow our connection ensuring all WIC participants can receive free entry into our state parks throughout the season. • Continue to build our list of WIC discounts especially as it relates to locations offering opportunities for movement. • Participate in the Farm to Early Childhood Coalition and work with childcare providers to promote and coordinate nutrition education options for childcare and provide outreach tools to district staff to promote to WIC to eligible families. • Continue to engage Family Advisory Council members to inform activities.

Objective 2: Increase the proportion of fruit and vegetable cash value benefits redeemed each month to 77%.

Reference: June 2023 redemption was 74.08% Activities: • Promote full redemption of CVB through social media, newsletter, text message, WICShopper App, and through staff education during the WIC appointment. • Review nutrition education materials to ensure produce selection and preparation/recipes are available.

9. EBT and EBT Implementation Goals

Procurement Update: Vermont WIC is a member of the Northeast Coalition of States (NCS). The NCS engaged to develop an EBT RFP to procure EBT services for SNAP and WIC in 2019. The contract process for the lead state, New York, had been delayed due to a bid protest and was not executed until September 2023. NCS states, including VT WIC, were required to wait until New York SNAP has a fully executed contract in place before entering into a contract. VT WIC put in place an extension to our EBT contract for up to 24 months (12 months, plus two 6-month extensions) to ensure EBT services were not disrupted for families. We have worked to refine the contract timeline and have set a goal for August 2024. We anticipate transition work to begin in September 2024 with an estimated conversion planned for Spring 2925.