WIC Special Project Grants

Fiscal Year 2006

Background

FNS awards WIC Special Project Grants to be used for "special State projects of regional or national significance to improve the services of the program." In order to meet the statutory objectives, Special Projects need to address issues of critical and timely importance to the WIC program. Furthermore, it is important that projects do not operate in isolation and that the results of the projects are widely disseminated to other State Agencies.

For the FY 2006 WIC Special Project Grant solicitation, FNS is designating a specific focus area for the grants with a range of possible projects. The grants will be awarded as cooperative agreements. Extensive dissemination of the results of successful projects is expected so that other State agencies will have the opportunity to replicate projects and/or learn from the results. The theme for the FY 2006 WIC Special Project full grant awards is "Revitalizing Quality Nutrition Services in WIC (RQNS)." Projects that will be considered will be proposals that address the focus area of Childhood Obesity Prevention, with a re-focus on replicating, adapting and/or evaluating materials and outputs developed in the original FY 1999 Childhood Obesity Prevention Grants (FIT WIC) for effectiveness in specific WIC settings (e.g., rural or urban) and/or WIC populations (e.g., Native American participants, Hispanic participants). The most appropriate grant proposals will be those that: (1) replicate and/or slightly modify Fit WIC materials for effectiveness in the WIC setting; (2) can be replicated in a variety of WIC settings (without changes or with minor changes for the purpose of regional preferences and cultural needs); (3) include a clear implementation plan and appropriate procedures for assessing and describing the "lessons learned" during implementation; and (4) have a rigorous evaluation component. Proposals developed from funding under the FY 2005 WIC Special Project Grant Concept Paper awards automatically qualify under this theme.

In addition to the full grant awards for FY 2006, concept paper funding, also begun in FY 1999, will continue to be available in FY 2006 as well. Concept paper funding for FY 2006 will be used to develop a concept paper into a full grant proposal for the FY 2007 solicitation cycle. For the FY 2006 Concept Paper grants, the theme is "Revitalizing Quality Nutrition Services in WIC (RQNS)." Two themes for the FY 2006 Concept Paper solicitation have been designated: (1) implementation of Value Enhanced Nutrition Assessment; and (2) Childhood Obesity Prevention, again with a re-focus on replicating, adapting and/or evaluating materials and outputs developed in the original Childhood Obesity Prevention Grants for effectiveness in specific WIC settings.

Timeline

Critical dates for the FY 2006 WIC Special Project Grants are as follows:

FY 2006 WIC Special Project Grant Application Package

• Application Package Cover Letter

• Full Grant Application

• Concept Paper Grant Application

WIC Special Project Grant Evaluation Resources

The following guides are provided to assist WIC State Agencies in developing the evaluation component of their proposals:

WIC Special Project Grants Evaluation Technical Assistance Guide: This guide was developed by KRA corporation in 1996 to assist WIC develop evaluation plans for their WIC Special Project Grant applications. The guide was designed to supplement the WIC Evaluation Resource Guide.

WIC Evaluation Resource Guide: This guide was developed by FNS staff in 1991 and is a more general WIC evaluation guide.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Veronica Ferrell, Grants Management Division, via email at veronica.ferrell@fns.usda.gov.

Last modified: 05/21/2009