Action Alerts

Ask your Members of Congress to Support Breastfeeding Peer Counselors

It is important to inform members of Congress about the role of WIC breastfeeding peer counselors as the fiscal year 2020 appropriations cycle begins here in DC. The appropriations process will determine the funding level for the program moving forward, and NWA hopes we can achieve full funding at the authorized level of $90 million. For nearly a decade, the program has been underfunded at $60 million, which is not sufficient to allow all clinics to provide peer counselor services.

Please contact your Members of Congress today to ask them to support breastfeeding peer counselors.

Please Note: These are lobbying actions.

As a reminder, it is your democratic right to lobby. Lobbying is a particular type of advocacy involving an attempt to influence specific legislation by communicating directly with an elected official or his or her staff. Each state has specific laws for state employees about lobbying efforts while on the job. We recommend limiting lobbying efforts to coffee breaks, lunch breaks, after hours and other times not considered “work time.”

WIC Advocacy Toolkit

No one knows WIC as well as WIC staff! That knowledge and experience present you and your colleagues with the unique opportunity to be a voice for WIC. This toolkit from the National WIC Association walks you through a variety of advocacy activities with tips, worksheets, and examples of how you can elevate your WIC voice.

In this toolkit you will find:

• Why Advocacy Matters: Explains why it’s important to talk about WIC on a local, state and national level.
• What is Advocacy: Lists all of the ways you can advocate for WIC. 
• When Does Advocacy Become Lobbying? Describes the differences between advocacy and lobbying and how you can advocate without stepping into the territory of lobbying. 
• WIC Funding Basics: Provides an explanation of how WIC is funded.
• Building Support for WIC in Your Community: Engaging Partners and Forging Coalitions: Describes the importance of partnerships to your advocacy work and how to go about building strategic partnerships. 
• Developing Strong Advocacy Messages: Describes how to create effective advocacy messages. 
• Key Messages and Talking Points for 2018: Includes NWA's key messages and talking points for this year. 
• Contacting Elected Officials: Provides tips for contacting policymakers, leading effective WIC advocacy meetings, hosting site visits, and other activities involving elected officials.
• Engaging the Media to Promote WIC: Provides tips on how to engage traditional press as well as social media to advocate for WIC.
• Telling Your WIC Story: Why and How: Provides guidance for effective WIC storytelling, through verbal and written stories as well as photography and videos. 
• Evidence-Based WIC Advocacy: Explains how to effectively use data and statistics in your advocacy messages. 

Where Can I Learn More About Current WIC Policy Issues?

• Fiscal Year 2020 WIC Legislative and Appropriations Agenda
• Fiscal Year 2020 WIC Policy Priorities
• Fiscal Year 2020 WIC Nutrition & Public Health Policy Priorities
• 2019 State Advocacy Priorities
• WIC Funding Basics (process of funding program)
• Support the Wise Investment in our Children (WIC) Act

Our publications page has links to many other NWA-produced fact sheets, papers, and reports about the WIC program that provide background and context for current WIC policy issues.

What Can I Do to Help?

• Email, call or visit your representative. Use this search tool to find your elected officials and their contact info.

What Should I Say to My Representative?

• Share your State’s WIC profile for state-specific data and participant stories.
• Watch what other NWA members had to say about talking with policymakers in the video below.

Is This Advocacy or Lobbying?

• This is a lobbying activity. If your job is funded through the government, you can send the email during your break time or after work.
• Not all advocacy efforts are lobbying. Advocacy is not lobbying when you’re informing members of Congress about WIC and highlighting WIC’s achievements: You are educat­ing policymakers about WIC. This helps promote a positive image of WIC and hopefully translates into favorable WIC policies in the future.
• Examples of non-lobbying advocacy: clearing up misconceptions about WIC; explaining the positive impacts of the improved WIC food packages; describing the importance of breastfeeding peer counselors; and conveying WIC successes.
• For more specifics, read When Does Advocacy Become Lobbying?

Other WIC-Related Advocacy

We engage in various public health-related advocacy issues. Check back for updates on other ways you can take action to support WIC!

How Can I Learn More About WIC Policy?

Contact our government affairs team:

• Brian Dittmeier, bdittmeier@nwica.org, Senior Public Policy Counsel