Webinars

We invite our members to explore our various WIC-related webinars through our Online Community. To access the online community, log-in to your account and click "Go To The Online Community".

We offer webinars most Thursdays at 3:00pm ET (unless otherwise noted) and they last one hour. See below for a schedule of upcoming webinars. Webinar archives are available to NWA members only. If you are a member, please log-in to your NWA account on www.nwica.org > go to “My Account” > “Go to Online Community” > “Webinar Archives,” which be located on the left menu bar.

CEUs are available for most webinars.

NWA Webinars

• Helping WIC Families through the Opioid Crisis: Assessing, Supporting and Referring webinar on October 25th, at 3:00 pm ET. Join us for this webinar, sponsored by NWA’s Local Agency Section, to inform you about the national opioid crisis and give practical tools to help you respond to clinical situations. Gain skills in screening, referral and resources for individuals and families in the WIC program struggling with opioid misuse.  Ask questions and share experiences on the impact of the issue in your local setting.

• Using Technology to Incentivize Behavior Change in WIC webinar on November 8th, at 3:00 pm ET. Research has proven that rewards can improve outcomes when seeking changes in behavior by providing feedback and motivation. Until recently, the WIC Program was limited by the number of participant contacts and allowable forms of incentives. However, with the introduction of EBT, the WIC Program has gained a powerful connection to participants through their smartphones and the use of WIC shopping mobile apps. Gamification, the application of elements of game playing (e.g., points, competition, etc.) to non-gaming areas of activity, is becoming a popular method of encouraging desired behaviors and outcomes. Gamification has many benefits that make it an ideal complement to the WIC Program. This presentation has two goals: 1. Demonstrate an extension to WIC EBT mobile applications that uses gamification to challenge, reward, and support participants as they work to achieve their goals. The example presented leverages EBT redemption data to track the purchases of healthy foods (e.g., fruits and vegetables) and rewards the participant as they display increased and continued progress toward meeting their goal. 2. Identify the components of successful gamification and demonstrate how the WIC Program can integrate these factors into a mobile app. Significant research is available evaluating the outcomes of gamification on behavioral change and researchers have identified the factors (e.g., goal setting, challenge, feedback, reinforcement) necessary to achieve successful results.

• New Research Unveils What WIC Infant and Young Children are Eating: 2016 Feeding Infants and Toddler Study (FITS) webinar on November 13th, at 3:00 pm ET. Some noteworthy success has been achieved in dietary patterns since 2008; however, additional progress is needed to ensure infants and young children are receiving optimal nutrition for growth and development. This new FITS data offers unique evidence on the impact of the revised WIC food packages and is particularly relevant for the WIC Staff who are on the front line engaging and inspiring families to make healthy eating choices.
• Engaging the Media Around Public Charge and WIC webinar on Wednesday, November 14th at 3:00 pm ET. As the public comment period for the public charge rule continues, news stories have increasingly focused on the intersection between immigration and public benefit programs like WIC. Engagement with the media can be a powerful tool to raise awareness, reach eligible participants, and mobilize your community around WIC. In this webinar, NWA Communications Team will go over some strategies on how to pitch stories to the media and how to engage on social media, and how these strategies can be employed to reassure concerned participants, educate the public, and advocate on public charge.

  Development of an Effective Post-Partum Weight Loss Program for Diverse Socioeconomically Disadvantaged Women webinar on November 15th, at 3:00 pm ET, sponsored by NWA’s Local Agency Section. This webinar will describe systematic strategies to develop culturally- and literacy-sensitive programs to promote behavior change. It will focus on strategies used to develop a post-partum weight loss program for WIC clients.

• WIC Nutrition Assessment Practices webinar on December 11th at 3:00pm ET. Nutrition Assessment in WIC is a delicate balancing act of sometimes competing priorities. Staff are often instructed to be thorough but build rapport, collect accurate data but use conversational assessment, provide education but only after a complete assessment and identify all applicable risk factors but don't overwhelm the participant with nutrition education. It can get complicated! Join this webinar for an interactive opportunity to explore pitfalls and best practices in WIC Nutrition Assessment Practices.

To attend these NWA webinars, you must register in advance. The links below take you directly to registration. Upon completing your registration, you will receive a confirmation email. If you don't see that email, please check your spam/junk mail folder. We strongly recommend you add sqldba@icohere.com to your email safe senders list to be sure you get your confirmation and other important emails about the webinar.

Have a webinar idea? Email us: webinars@nwica.org.