The USDA granted states multiple operational waivers to continue to deliver the Special Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) services during the COVID-19 pandemic and these waivers have enabled our ability to serve participants remotely. With funding from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the Nutrition Policy Institute and Public Health Foundation Enterprise WIC gathered information from WIC participants about their experiences with WIC during the COVID-19 pandemic. The first brief based on information gathered from WIC participants in Los Angeles County is now available online, with more to come soon from interviews with participants and local agency staff from across California in the months to come.

Nearly half of young children in the United States participate in licensed child care settings, where they can consume up to two-thirds of their daily dietary intake. Thus, these are important settings in which young children are provided beverages that support their health. A recent study conducted by Nutrition Policy Institute (NPI) in collaboration with the Public Health Law Center, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health suggests that family child care homes have fewer state regulations that support breastfeeding and healthy beverage provision compared to child care centers. This is of concern as low-income families are more likely to rely on home child care providers than on centers to provide care for their young children. The authors conclude the study by encouraging policymakers to ensure state child care regulations are in place to help child care providers support breastfeeding families and to provide healthy beverages to all children, regardless of whether they are in a center or home. The study, titled "Alignment of State Regulations With Breastfeeding and Beverage Best Practices for Childcare Centers and Family Childcare Homes, United States", was published online on November 9, 2020 in the journal Public Health Reports. Study co-authors include NPI researchers Danielle Lee, Raquel Traseria, Sophia Navarro, Lorrene Ritchie, and policy director Ken Hecht; Natasha Frost of the Public Health Law Center; Sara Benjamin Neelon of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health; and Angie Cradock of the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health.

Not all child care settings have nutrition standards for infants as they transition to toddlerhood. Nutrition Policy Institute (NPI) researchers, in collaboration with Nourish California (previously known as California Food Policy Advocates), convened a group of science advisors and child care community advisors in 2015 to develop infant and toddler nutrition standards feasible for family child care home providers to implement. The process of developing nutrition recommendations on what foods and beverages to serve and how to feed infants and toddlers in licensed family child care home settings was published online on November 9, 2020, in a chapter featured in the Nestle Nutrition Institute Workshop Series, volume 95, titled "Building Future Health and Well-Being of Thriving Toddlers and Young Children". The 95th Nestlé Nutrition Institute Workshop, which took place as a 3-day virtual workshop in September 2020, explored the current scientific research of creating a healthy foundation for life in toddlers and young children. Co-authors of the chapter included NPI researchers Lorrene Ritchie and Danielle Lee, Elyse Homel Vital of the Childcare Food Program Roundtable (formerly with California Food Policy Advocates), and NPI-affiliated researcher Lauren Au of the University of California, Davis, Department of Nutrition. Ritchie's presentation from the workshop is also available online.

The American Public Health Association (APHA) Annual Meeting and Expo is the largest yearly gathering of public health professionals. This year, the annual meeting is being held virtually October 24-28, 2020. Researchers from the University of California, Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Nutrition Policy Institute will be presenting their work on a variety of collaborative food and nutrition policy studies related to the child care food environment, school meals, the federal Supplemental Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC), and more. A full list of on-demand poster presentations and live oral presentations is below.

Child care food environment: 

• California childcare centers and homes in the federal child and adult care food program offer more nutritious foods to infants
  Presenters: Danielle Lee, Klara Gurzo, Lilly Nhan, Elyse Homel Vitale, Sallie Yoshida, Lorrene Ritchie
  Poster presentation
  
  
• Online training increases child care provider knowledge of healthy beverage policy and practices for young children
  Presenters: Kaela Plank, Danielle Lee, Abbey Alkon, Marisa Neelon, L. Karina Diaz Rios, Katherine Soule, Lorrene Ritchie
  Poster presentation

School meals: 

• Impact of a district-wide chocolate milk removal policy on students' milk selection and consumption 
  Presenters: Hannah Thompson, Lorrene Ritchie, Kristine Madsen, Esther Park, Wendi Gosliner
  Oral presentation, Wednesday, October 28, 2020, 8:15-8:30 AM PDT

WIC: 

• Families with children 1-5 years old: WIC program perspectives on nutrition education and food benefits
  Presenters: Marisa Tsai, Lorrene Ritchie, Shannon Whaley, Catherine Martinez, Martha Meza, Lauren Au, Hallie Randel-Schreiber, Susan Sabatier
  Oral presentation, Wednesday, October 28, 2020, 8:00-8:15 AM PDT
  
  
• Children on WIC followed through age 4 years: What are they eating?
  Presenters: Lorrene Ritchie, Lauren Au, Shannon Whaley, Christine Borger
  Oral presentation, Wednesday, October 28, 2020, 9:30-9:50 AM PDT
  
  
• Feeding beliefs and practices among low-income caregivers: Findings from year 4 of the WIC infant and toddler feeding practices study-2
  Presenters: Courtney Paolicelli, Christine Borger, Lorrene Ritchie, Shannon Whaley
  Oral presentation, Wednesday, October 28, 2020, 9:50-10:10 AM PDT

• Prevalence of overweight and obesity among children receiving WIC
  Presenters: Christine Borger, Shannon Whaley, Lorrene Ritchie
  Oral presentation, Wednesday, October 28, 2020, 10:10-10:30 AM PDT
  
  
• Longer participation in WIC is associated with healthier outcomes for children at age 4 years
  Presenters: Shannon Whaley, Christine Borger, Lauren Au, Lorrene Ritchie
  Oral presentation, Wednesday, October 28, 2020, 10:30-10:50 AM PDT

Other topics: 

• Exploring housing and food insecurity among California university students: A holistic and comprehensive definition of students' basic needs
  Presenters: Suzanna Martinez, Erin Esaryk, Laurel Moffat, Lorrene Ritchie
  Oral presentation, Tuesday, October 27, 12:00-12:15 PM PDT
  
  
• Healthy default beverages in kids' meals: Evaluating policy implementation and impact in California and Delaware
  Presenters: Allison Karpyn, Wendi Gosliner, Laura Lessard, Kathleen McCallops, Marisa Tsai, Tara Tracy, Phoebe Harpainter, Danielle Lee, Anna Martin, Lorrene Ritchie, Gail Woodward-Lopez
  Oral presentation, Tuesday, October 27, 4:45-5:00 PM PDT
  
  
• Perceived produce availability and child fruit and vegetable intake: The healthy communities study
  Presenters: Laurel Moffat, Lorrene Ritchie, Wendi Gosliner, Kaela Plank, Lauren Au
  Oral presentation, Wednesday, October 28, 2020, 10:15-10:30 AM PDT
  
  
• Limited progress found in healthy checkout among food stores in economically disadvantaged California neighborhoods, 2011-2017
  Presenters: Wendi Gosliner, Sriddharshi Hewawitharana, Janice Kao, Sadie Costello, Gail Woodward-Lopez
  Poster presentation
  
  
• A replication study of school-based SNAP-ed programmatic efforts to address student nutrition and physical activity outcomes
  Presenters: John Pugliese, Lauren Whetstone, Sridharshi Hewawitharana, Gail Woodward-Lopez
  Poster presentation