Advocacy
WICANYS is the leading nonprofit organization advocating to enhance and support the WIC program in New York State, while also engaging in federal advocacy that impacts the families and providers we serve. We represent 85 local WIC agencies and the state’s vendor management organization. Learn more about our advocacy work and stay informed on key federal and state policies affecting WIC access and funding.
Our Priority Issues
Food Package
The WIC Association of NYS is committed to ensuring that updated food packages are swiftly implemented to deliver additional healthy foods to WIC families.
WIC Modernization
Harnessing new technologies to expand WIC’s reach to eligible families is a key priority. WICANYS supports statewide and federal initiatives to modernize the WIC program.
National Advocacy
WICANYS works in tandem with the National WIC Association to advocate for the WIC program. Learn more about WIC advocacy and policy on the federal level on the National WIC Association’s Action Central page.
Take Action
Whether you’re a WIC participant, agency member, or a passionate advocate, you can use your voice to advocate for WIC. Learn more about our active initiatives and how you can take action:
Stay Informed: WIC Policy
Find information on all federal WIC laws and regulations from the USDA
NYS Budget Update
June 3, 2026
New York State Budget Protects Nutrition Security to Many with Key Investments; Overlooks a Cornerstone of Our Commitment to Maternal and Child Health
The final FY2027 New York State Budget, signed by the Governor last week, includes several important nutrition and food access investments, particularly to children while in school and childcare, participants in SNAP, and New Yorkers seeking emergency food assistance from food pantries and soup kitchens. These investments include continued funding to sustain the state’s universal free school meals program, outreach so more childcare providers will serve healthy food for children in their care, support for emergency food providers, and funding for more secure SNAP EBT cards, Summer EBT, boosting SNAP’s purchasing power for fruits and vegetables, and sustaining the state’s network of SNAP navigators who assist people of all ages who need extra help to complete what can be a daunting process. We are grateful for New York’s leadership on these issues.
Families are counting on the programs and services that help their family live in New York and thrive; for many families, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) is not just a nutrition program—it is a trusted point of contact with the health system, a bridge to prenatal and pediatric care, and a source of consistent support during the earliest and most critical years of a child’s life. WIC is the original food-is-medicine public health program. For over 50 years, WIC has provided healthy food and vital support for nutritionally at-risk New Yorkers throughout the critical stages of pregnancy, breastfeeding, infancy, and the first five years of life. Because every day matters, enrollment in the WIC Program must not be delayed. Decades of research support WIC’s many benefits, including healthier births, improved maternal health, reduced disparities in infant health, improved child development, more nutritious diets for participating families, and healthier communities.
The State allocations to NYS Department of Health for WIC have remained largely unchanged for the past decade, despite a whopping 28% increase in participation since 2020, significantly outpacing the nation’s average of 10% participation growth. The WIC Association of New York State will continue to call upon the NYS legislature and Governor to commit and invest in the future of WIC to ensure that the current 460,000+ nutritionally at-risk moms, babies and toddlers receiving WIC nutrition services continue to have access to this life changing program, and more of the 200,000 eligible but not yet participating New Yorkers can access WIC when they seek to.
Within the last few months, NYSDOH WIC has launched long awaited and needed new food packages; our state is poised for a new influx of participants with more flexibilities and broader cultural relevance for a diverse population such as ours. While there have been many modernizations to WIC’s program and shopping experience since the pandemic, these are USDA’s first major food package changes in 15 years and will make food packages more relevant for a diverse population, while also providing additional improvements and flexibilities for participating families.
WIC’s local agency model—which provides individualized nutrition counseling, culturally responsive services, and community-based outreach—all with remote service options – makes it uniquely suited to meeting families wherever they are.
We are deeply grateful to our many partners who joined us in also calling for state investment in WIC and will continue to work to ensure all pregnant, post-partum and breastfeeding New Yorkers and their infants, toddlers, and preschoolers have the vital nutrition services in the time-sensitive manner that WIC requires for building brains and bodies so children are ready to enter school.
New York should be proud to lead the nation in growth in WIC participation. The perinatal, postpartum, and pediatric patients who depend on this public health nutrition program cannot wait, and investing in their earliest years is one of the best things New York can do for all of us.
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The WIC Association of New York State represents 85 local WIC programs operating in hospitals, federally qualified community health care centers, local county departments of health, and community-based organizations which now serve over 460,000 nutritionally at-risk pregnant, postpartum and breastfeeding moms, infants and children under age 5.