In December, Jonessa White learned some refugee families served by the International Rescue Committee (IRC) in Salt Lake City could be experiencing food insecurity due to misunderstanding surrounding the benefits they received through the Women, Infants & Children (WIC) program, a nationwide supplemental nutrition initiative. In response, she launched her team into action. 

“We wanted to ascertain if this was accurate and determine whether clients feel that WIC benefits increase food security and family nutrition.” Jonessa, the maternal & child health specialist, works closely with refugee families who receive support from WIC. Jonessa works within the wider health program at the IRC in Salt Lake City, ensuring access to appropriate care for new and expecting mothers. The WIC program provides essential benefits and access to nutritious, healthy foods for the pregnant women, children and mothers that Jonessa works with. 

Building off of the IRC’s increasingly robust data collection efforts, Jonessa and her team decided to launch a survey of the women participating in the WIC program to learn more about the gaps refugees face in food security living in Salt Lake City and what might be needed to address them. The result showed that many of the households experiencing food insecurity were the same families that were facing barriers to utilizing WIC benefits. “It can be overwhelming to know what quantities, brands, and types of foods at the grocery store qualify for WIC benefits,” Jonessa explains, continuing, “Many clients expressed confusion and language barriers around the process of using their benefits.” 

Denise, a WIC recipient who participated in the survey, was among those facing barriers to getting the most out of her WIC benefits. “There are some types of foods which I am supposed to buy with WIC, but I do not know what those foods are,” she shared in the survey, adding, “I cannot buy something that I do not know.”In response to the findings of the survey and the direct feedback received from others like Denise, the IRC in Salt Lake City reached out to the Utah State WIC office ultimately working to translate educational videos into three languages accessible to refugee families: Kinyarwanda, Kiswahili, and Dari . The videos were then sent to families as educational resources to ensure they were using their WIC benefits properly and getting the most out of each visit to the grocery store.    

Jonessa says that the videos have been a success, and many participants have expressed appreciation for added translations to vital educational resources noting it helped clear up a number of misunderstandings. Through the survey, her team also learned that the clients were very happy to have WIC benefits fill in the gaps and increase access to healthy foods.

“WIC has helped me a lot,” Yohana, a WIC recipient says. “WIC is helping us get more foods that we would not get if we did not have it. It provides all types of healthy foods and drinks.” 

In addition to maternal and child health, the IRC in Salt Lake City makes health care access a priority for all newly arrived refugees. All new arrivals receive health screenings, help with initial scheduling and coordinating appointments, and education about the U.S. health care system. Through a robust health program, refugees arriving in Salt Lake City are empowered to take control of their own health. 

The IRC in Salt Lake City continually strives to listen to community needs through a broader Client Influence Strategy, ensuring programs are equipped with robust data collection and analysis tools to make swift changes to program delivery. You can support our efforts to become more efficient while deepening our services by making a one-time gift or starting a monthly donation at Rescue.org/GiveSLC.