Cuyahoga County Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) Program

WIC Program Administrative Offices:

MetroHealth Center for Community Health
Public Health Division
3571 Ridge Road
Cleveland, Ohio 44102
Phone: (216) 961-2233
Call for the location nearest you!

Overview
Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) is a federally funded food supplement and nutrition education program. It serves pregnant and breast-feeding women, infants under one year, and children up to the age of five who are at risk due to inadequate nutrition. Administered in Cuyahoga County by The MetroHealth System, the program operates twenty-two nutrition education program sites, and serves over 35,000 participants each month throughout Cuyahoga County.

Proven Track Record

• Improves pregnancy outcomes by providing or referring to support services necessary for full-term pregnancies;
• Reduces infant mortality by reducing the incidence of low birth weight infants (newborns weighing under 5.2 pounds are at greater risk of breathing problems, brain injuries, and physical abnormalities); and
• Provides infants and children with a healthy start in life by combating poor and/or inadequate diet.

WIC Provides

• Nutrition education;
• Supplemental, highly nutritious foods such as iron-fortified infant formula, milk, eggs, and peanut butter; and
• Referral to prenatal and pediatric health care and other maternal and child health service programs (i.e., Medicaid and Food Stamps).

Eligibility

• Pregnant and breast-feeding women, women who recently had a baby, infant (birth to 12 months), child (one to five years of age);
• Resident of Cuyahoga County, or receiving health care in county;
• Determined by health professional to be at medical/nutritional risk; and
• Income -- 185% of Federal Poverty Income Guidelines (call your nearest WIC office for a personalized income assessment):
  

Family Size	Hourly	Weekly	Monthly	Yearly
2	$ 11.43	$487	$1978	$23,736
4	$17.23	$689	$2,984	$35,798

Effectiveness

WIC is a proven effective health care program. The National WIC Evaluation, conducted by the Research Triangle Institute of Raleigh, North Carolina, and Dr. David Rush of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University of New York City, which was released on January 10, 1986, shows that WIC has significant impact on maternal and child health. The findings indicate significant health benefits for WIC participants including the following:

• WIC helps pregnant women see physicians earlier, and increases the number of women receiving timely prenatal care;
• WIC participation improves the length of pregnancy and birth weight;
• WIC participation reduces late fetal deaths;
• WIC improves the diets of women and children;
• WIC participation results in increased head circumference (reflecting brain growth) of infants whose mothers receive WIC during pregnancy;
• WIC children are better immunized, and are more likely to have a regular source of health care; and
  Children in WIC do better on vocabulary scores.