New Mexico Has Lowest National WIC Participation with Highest Need
New Mexico ranks first nationally in WIC eligibility, but lowest in uptake. This means that we have the highest percentage of pregnant people and young children who qualify for this federal nutrition program, yet the fewest actually accessing the program. Thousands of eligible pregnant women and parents with children ages 0-5 go without essential nutrition support despite qualifying for benefits.
The greater impact extends beyond nutrition alone. WIC enrollment connects families to the healthcare system, identifies high-risk pregnancies earlier, and provides a platform for other interventions like BIBS. Many women first access prenatal care because of WIC referrals. The program serves as a gateway to comprehensive support.
This main explanation for the participation gap isn't that families don't want help or don't know about WIC. It's because federal law requires in-person application and reauthorization appointments, creating insurmountable barriers for both rural and urban families. In rural New Mexico, families may live hours from the nearest WIC office. Taking a day off work, finding childcare, and driving long distances for a one-hour appointment isn't feasible when you're barely making ends meet.
In urban areas, the barriers are different but equally prohibitive: parents working multiple jobs can't take time off during business hours, families without reliable transportation can't get to offices, and undocumented families fear immigration consequences from accessing government programs, even though WIC eligibility isn't tied to immigration status for children born in the US.
WIC Binary Trap
Families can either spend an entire day traveling to WIC offices for in-person appointments (losing wages, childcare costs, and transportation expenses that may exceed the benefit value), or they can go without nutrition support (harming infant health and maternal wellbeing). Neither option solves the problem.
NM Appleseed’s Solution Design Process
In addition to the significant social science research mentioned above that Appleseed did to better understand the impact of WIC and the role it can play outside of the basic nutritional improvement, Appleseed spoke to experts around the state and the country to see where there were opportunities to change the system.
NM Appleseed's Solution: Create State WIC
Lived Experience Experts: Appleseed’s approach to WIC expansion began with community research, talking with WIC-eligible families about why they weren't enrolling or staying enrolled. The answers were consistent. The in-person enrollment requirement was the primary barrier, followed by lack of awareness about eligibility and concerns about immigration consequences.
Issue Experts: We worked with early childhood education centers, which already serve low-income families and have trusted relationships with parents. This helped us understand the existing infrastructure that connects families with WIC services, identifying key enrollment barriers and highlighting opportunities to make the system better.
State Experts: We then partnered with the New Mexico Department of Health, which administers WIC, and legislative leadership including Senator Michael Padilla, who agreed to champion funding for mobile outreach. We researched evidence from other states that had successfully increased WIC participation through mobile units and community-based enrollment.
Three-Pronged WIC Expansion
Appleseed's WIC expansion strategy addresses multiple barriers simultaneously through three interconnected interventions:
Rural Mobile Outreach Units: The New Mexico Department of Health is already operating mobile WIC units but needs funding to expand statewide coverage. We are requesting $3-6 million in state funding through Senator Padilla's leadership to dramatically increase mobile unit availability in rural communities. These units bring WIC services directly to communities, eliminating travel barriers that prevent enrollment and reauthorization.
State WIC Supplement Program: We're conducting comprehensive community and academic research to support New Mexico becoming the first state in the nation to supplement federal WIC benefits with state dollars. This supplement would expand eligibility to populations currently excluded from federal WIC—particularly undocumented pregnant people and children—while also increasing benefit amounts for all participants. This aligns with state priorities around child hunger prevention, early childhood development, and prenatal care expansion.
Early Engagement Behavioral Interventions: We're researching behavioral economics interventions to connect women with WIC and prenatal care at the earliest possible moment—potentially when purchasing pregnancy tests. This could involve retail partnerships with QR codes on pregnancy test packages linking to enrollment information, or other early touchpoints that reach women before they've navigated the complex healthcare system. The goal is to engage moms when they first learn they're pregnant.
