Over the past decade, a declining share of eligible families has participated in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). As a result, millions of eligible families in need are missing out on the diet, health, and developmental benefits associated with participating in WIC.
Targeted text messaging offers a promising option for reaching more families eligible for WIC, as several recent pilot programs have shown it may help increase awareness about and enrollment in the program. In partnership with the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, we published a new report that focuses on targeted text messaging as an outreach tool, “Targeted Text Message Outreach Can Increase WIC Enrollment, Pilots Show.” The report covers:
- The effectiveness of text message outreach at reaching, engaging, and enrolling families in WIC who already receive the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) or Medicaid and are automatically considered income-eligible for WIC (also known as adjunctive eligibility);
- How texting outreach compares to mail and telephone outreach; and
- Key considerations when developing and launching a new targeted text outreach campaign.
To learn more about the considerable impact this outreach strategy could have on WIC awareness and enrollment — and how state governments can launch text message outreach for WIC — read the full report. To learn more about our overall WIC work in partnership with CBPP, read our previous reports:
- Using Data Matching and Targeted Outreach to Enroll Families With Young Children in WIC (January 2021)
- Matching Data Across Programs Can Increase WIC Enrollment (April 2021)
This report was made possible through collaboration with the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) as well as support from the Walmart Foundation. The findings, conclusions and recommendations presented in this report are those of Benefits Data Trust and CBPP alone, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Walmart Foundation.