West Virginia WIC Policy & Procedure 7.02 7.02

Publicizing WIC Final: 12/03/25

POLICY:

Use of the acronym "WIC" and the WIC logo, including close facsimiles thereof, in total or in part, is reserved for the official use of the WIC Program. Such official use is restricted to purposes consistent with WIC Program regulations, FNS Instructions, and policies. Materials that display WIC identifiers will be used primarily for identification, public notification, and outreach purposes. The WIC acronym and logo may be used by offices administering the WIC Program at the national, regional, state, and local levels. These symbols may be used on such types of communication as letters, leaflets, brochures, bulletins, posters, newspapers, radio and television announcements, guides, manuals, directories, studies, reports, food instruments, forms, such as certification forms used by local agencies, and initiatives, such as "WIC Immunization Initiative." In addition, business or calling cards commercially prepared at grantee expense for employees of the WIC Program may depict the WIC acronym and logo. This list of uses is not all-inclusive; there may be several other ideas for use, particularly in the design of outreach materials. The State Agency (SA) reserves the right to approve any uses of the WIC acronym or logo; and any uses that are considered inappropriate shall be discontinued.

The State Agency (SA) will define WIC Program branding for West Virginia, including, but not limited to, brand essence, logo(s), icon(s), color(s), and photo style. Each Local WIC Agency (LA) must use the designated branding and marketing materials. A LA may not utilize WIC branding that differs from or was not distributed by the SA. SA selected, produced or copyrighted materials may not be recreated or altered in any way by Local WIC Agencies. The materials must be utilized for the purpose designated by the SA.

Local WIC Agencies, in cooperation with the SA, will inform eligible persons of the availability of WIC Program benefits, including the eligibility criteria for participation, the location of sites operating the Program, and benefits of public health nutrition services with emphasis on reaching and enrolling eligible populations. Such information shall be publicly announced by the LA and SA at least annually with specific and directed outreach efforts by the SA and LA for increased awareness of WIC Program services by the Potentially Eligible Population (PEP).

The SA will design, print, and maintain inventory of print and digital materials outlining eligibility criteria, the locations of sites offering certifications, the benefits of public health nutrition services, and enrollment procedures for PEP as well as referral tools and coordination of services for external stakeholders and partners. The SA administrated website will be updated by the SA and LA, in addition to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and National WIC Association (NWA) referral and/or enrollment platforms, on an annual basis to reflect any changes to clinic locations, hours, and/or contact information.

If any outreach material, including but not limited to press releases, social media posts, or print/digital materials, was not developed, selected or distributed by the SA or Department of Health (DoH), it is considered locally developed or selected and as such must be submitted to the State Agency Coordinator (SAC) for approval. LA developed outreach materials may be revised and/or utilized by the SA at any time for any purpose.

If any WIC branding, including, but not limited to, signs, interior, and exterior clinic and vehicle branding or website design specific to a LA, was not developed, selected or distributed by the SA or Department of Health (DoH) it is considered locally developed or selected and as such, must be submitted to the State Agency Coordinator (SAC) for approval. LA developed branding may be revised and/or utilized by the SA at any time for any purpose. All unsolicited media and legislative inquiries must be referred to the SA immediately. 1

West Virginia WIC Policy & Procedure 7.02 7.02

Publicizing WIC Final: 12/03/25

PROCEDURE: A. Brand Management 1. Brand Training a. All LA staff involved in communications, outreach, or community education must complete brand training provided by the State Agency during new employee training. b. Local Agency Outreach Liaisons (ORL) will complete brand training upon appointment, at least once annually during a virtual ORL touchpoint, and when major new branding updates occur. 2. Consistency in Messaging a. All communications must align with the SA established messaging and tone. Any text and photo style included in outreach, educational materials, or social media posts must reflect WIC values and language guidelines. 3. Access to Branding Toolkit a. SA will maintain a digital branding toolkit, including logos, templates, guidelines, and material samples accessible to all LAs via the statewide shared drive. 4. Prohibition on Altering Official Material a. LA may not change or alter any USDA, NWA or SA provided branding materials, including logos, taglines, or design elements. i. Example: A LA may not crop, recolor, distort or wrap, rotate, outline, apply visual effects, or put the logo on top of color for a community event flyer. ii. Clear space of ⅕ of logo width all the way around is required. iii. In printed materials, the logo should appear no smaller than 0.5 inches or 13mm. In digital materials, the logo should appear no smaller than 50 pixels wide. iv. A white background should be the foundation for all designs. For optimal color reproduction, on screen and on paper, CMYK is for printing, RGB is for screens and devices, HEX is for websites and coding, PMS is for standardized color matching. v. Typography/typefaces of the brand have designated use (i.e. headlines vs body copy), and should not be used interchangeably. 5. Co-Branding Materials a. When the WIC acronym is used in any form or fashion, including co-branding with LA parent agency (Local Health Department, Federally Qualified Health Center, etc.), WIC authorized vendors or farmers, or external partners, (e.g. hospitals, pop-up clinics, health fairs, etc), LA must ensure WIC branding is represented properly. Prior to use, SA review and approval must occur per Section C below.

B. State Agency Provided Outreach Materials

1. Print materials outlining eligibility criteria, gathering enrollment information, referral tools and other documents for outreach and marketing to PEP and coordination of services can be ordered through the designated SA inventory procedure 2

West Virginia WIC Policy & Procedure 7.02 7.02

Publicizing WIC Final: 12/03/25

which includes the Outreach Materials Order Form. a. SA Outreach Coordinator (ORC) will follow materials management outlined procedures, revise the clinic used Google sheet order form, and the fillable PDF on the statewide shared drive, and will replace it on the website each time new material is added or eliminated. b. The ORC will send an email to appropriate LA staff (i.e. LA liaisons, site supervisors, etc.) with cc to LA Directors (LAD) sharing the statewide drive link to the updated order form, and as appropriate, expected delivery date of initial distribution, date the warehouse will begin shipping backorders, and/or date inventory will be available for order from the warehouse. 2. SA will assign a form number, determine quantity and bundling. Quantities will be determined for existing items based on the last 12 months use. For new items this can be projected use based on last fiscal year’s unduplicated caseload. a. The ORC will develop an initial supply distribution list for each liaison or agency based on caseload. LA current monthly caseload divided by statewide caseload equals LA percentage of distribution. For example, 2,000 brochures will be distributed. LA caseload is 5,900/ 36,000 statewide caseload = 16%. 2000 x .16 = 320 of the 2,000 brochures which would be rounded to the denomination of the bundle (i.e. brochures bundled in 50 = 6 packages). b. Supply distribution will be delivered to the site number of ORL headquarters or main site of the Local Agency (LA). 3. If the items will not be added to inventory, and be delivered to the SA for distribution. The ORC will develop a distribution list based on caseload (calculation outlined above) for packing of materials. Various SA staff will deliver via upcoming scheduled face-to-face visits (i.e. in person meetings, new employee training, vendor visits in the area). Mailing of bulk items from SA will only occur in time sensitive situations determined on a case-by-case basis. a. The ORC will send an email to the LA staff expected to accept in person delivery sharing the expected delivery location, date, and number of boxes or space needed. b. Upon in-person delivery, the recipient will sign the distribution list which will also serve as a receiving report. 4. At least annually by April 1st, during a virtual touchpoint, the ORC and ORL will review current available outreach materials for elimination or modification. The ORC will provide the State Agency Director (SAD) a proposed annual budget for outreach materials by June 30th each year. a. The ORC will facilitate a 14 working day State Agency Management Team (SAM), ORL, and LA Director (LAD) review and comment period on all available outreach materials. For existing items with no content or design changes, comment periods are not required b. The ORL should be involved in design and development for new items, and revisions of old items, throughout the process via virtual touchpoints. The review of the second draft should be initiated and facilitated via a virtual touchpoint meeting with the designated comment deadline recorded in meeting notes. The ORC will remove sharing rights at the end of the comment period. c. To make space for a new item, or eliminate inventory of material no longer used or desired, ORC should collaborate with ORL in a virtual touchpoint for 3

West Virginia WIC Policy & Procedure 7.02 7.02

Publicizing WIC Final: 12/03/25

consensus decision and understanding of when material will no longer be available. Decision should include disposition of material if there is remaining inventory (i.e. other program use, partner donation, recycle, etc.).

5. DoH approval processes must be final prior to any public use of SA developed materials.

6. Goods of nominal value (Refer to P&P 7.11) and/or targeted outreach materials to accomplish annual plan goals and objectives may be provided by the SA.

7. SA, in partnership with LAs, will publicize clinic locations, hours, and contact information on a WIC website, NWA enrollment platform (i.e. SignUpWIC.com), USDA FNS website, Google search and Clinic Contact Card (OR-011). a. Each ORL is responsible for updating clinic locations, hours, and contact information upon changes or confirming at least annually by June 30th via an email to the ORC and SA Helpdesk. b. Content from SA published digital media or website content can be used by LA without prior SA approval.

C. Local Agency Produced Outreach Materials

State Agency approval of all outreach materials, including but not limited to, flyers, posters, brochures, promotional item messages, press releases, social media, public PowerPoint presentations and advertisement copy is required prior to distribution. The Local Agency Outreach Liaison is responsible for obtaining approval from the State Agency Outreach Coordinator.

1. DoH does not require Commissioner or Communications review of LA developed materials. 2. The digital or scanned copy sent to the ORC via email or fax for approval should be the same form, quality, color, etc. that will be distributed, if possible. 3. The SAC will send written approval or disapproval of all material submitted within 14 business days upon receipt. a. This process can be accomplished via email with quality attached graphics of proposed material. 4. Disapproved materials must be revised and resubmitted for approval. 5. Outreach material may be emailed to the State Outreach Coordinator for immediate approval when there is insufficient time with an explanation of the short timeframe. a. Timing may be a factor of SAC approval/disapproval. 6. Upon approval, a copy of approved item will be added to Approved LA Media on the statewide shared drive to adopt amongst all local agencies, with the ability to change agency name, phone number, and address or other identifying markers. Any item in this file is already approved and can be used as needed. 7. The SAC will notify the ORL and LAD via email of intent to revise or utilize LA developed outreach materials. The revision will credit LA with an adaptation statement. a. SAC will follow DoH processes for approval prior to reproduction and distribution. b. The SAC will share final versions with all LAs.

8. Goods of nominal value (Refer to P&P 7.11) for any outreach purpose and/or targeted outreach materials (print, digital, or tangible) to accomplish annual plan goals and 4

West Virginia WIC Policy & Procedure 7.02 7.02

Publicizing WIC Final: 12/03/25

objectives must be approved by the SAD prior to purchase. D. Publicizing the WIC Program 1. LA staff will refer all written and verbal unsolicited legislative and media inquiries to the SA in the same modality as the request (i.e. phone or email). Notification to the SA should occur within the same day as the request. a. If the inquiry is related to a SA media release, the appropriate contact person will be outlined within the release. b. If the inquiry is related to a LA media release, since the SA has already provided approval as outlined in Section C of this policy and procedure, LA staff may address these inquiries directly. 2. Media-related activities may include: a. News releases b. Newspaper feature stories c. Public service announcements d. Distribution of flyers, pamphlets and posters e. Social Media f. Internet based media 3. A Release Form (see Attachment 1) must be signed by any subject, including but not limited to, WIC participant/parent/guardian/employee, external partner, or PEP prior to the use of identifying information, written or recorded comments and/or photograph in any media-related, outreach or promotional activity. a. Subjects are required to complete, and sign with wet signature, the photo release form prior to the first instance of their image, likeness, or identifying information being used in written or recorded comments and/or photograph in a media-related activity. b. This hard copy release form must be retained in a paper file for a minimum of three (3) years and one-hundred fifty (150) days following the date of submission which aligns with record keeping requirements for the Local Agency (Refer to P&P 1.04). i. The release form must also be scanned and stored in the Local Agency Shared Drive titled “Media Release Form”. ii. The document must be saved as “Subject Relationsip_Last Name_First Name_Date of Release” (i.e. WIC Employee_Doe_John_08.30.2000) c. If a subject chooses to decline completion of a photo release agreement their image, likeness, and/or written or recorded comments cannot be used when publicizing or promoting the WIC Program.

4. The Local Agency will publicize WIC annually and include: a. A description of the WIC Program; b. Participant eligibility criteria; c. Name, location, clinic hours, and contact information of each service site in every assigned county; and d. The FNS-approved nondiscrimination statement as referenced in 1.08 Civil Rights Policy

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West Virginia WIC Policy & Procedure 7.02 7.02

Publicizing WIC Final: 12/03/25

REFERENCES: 1. FNS INSTRUCTION 800-2 2. 7 CFR §246.4 (a)(7)(i) of the WIC Regulations 3. SFP 96-009, Use of the USDA’s Nondiscrimination Statement 4. SFP 97-136, USDA’s Nondiscrimination Statement 5. FNS 113-1: Civil Rights Compliance and Enforcement 6. DR 4300-3, 1999 Equal Opportunity Public Notification Policy 7. Nutrition Services Standards

ATTACHMENTS: 1. Attachment 1 Release Form 6