Early Childhood Publications

The Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) and the Women, Infants, and Children Program (WIC) help millions of young children get the nutrition they need for a healthy start in life. FRAC has documented the growth and reach of these programs, as well as outlined ideas to ensure they reach all who are eligible.

Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP)

CACFP Participation Trends
Each year, FRAC analyzes CACFP participation data for child care centers and family child care homes provided by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) for the United States as a whole and for each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia.

  • Read the latest report: 2012
  • Previous reports in this series: 2011 | 2010 | 2009

Women, Infants, and Children Program (WIC)

Impact of the Revised WIC Food Packages on Nutrition Outcomes and the Retail Food Environment
This brief summarizes the growing body of evidence that the revised WIC food packages have favorable impacts on dietary intake, breastfeeding outcomes, and obesity rates. In addition, emerging studies suggest an important role for WIC in improving neighborhood food environments

Making WIC Work for Multicultural Communities: Best Practices in Outreach and Nutrition Education
This guide highlights successful outreach strategies and nutrition education methods for making WIC work in multicultural communities, including effective best practices for targeting hard-to-reach communities, addressing language barriers and emphasizing quality services and participant access.

Time for a Change: Maximizing the Benefits of the New WIC foods
FRAC’s guide to the new WIC food package provides tips and strategies to help communities take full advantage of the new offerings.

WIC Directors Survey on Nutrition Services Funds
Administered by FRAC, the WIC Directors Survey focused on Nutrition Services funds and WIC access and quality services for the low-income nutritionally at-risk WIC population. The results confirm the valuable role of Nutrition Services (NSA) funding in supporting quality nutrition education and services in WIC.

WIC In the States: Thirty-One Years of Building a Healthier America
This report reviews WIC’s achievements in its 31-year history and its importance to women, infants and children, and documents the growth in WIC participation nationally and in each state.

WIC Partnerships and the Nurturing Parent
This report focuses on successful WIC parenting education collaborations – WIC program efforts to weave together services that address the parenting, nutrition, cognition, and health needs of WIC families through innovative nutrition education that collaborates with parenting, literacy and early childhood development initiatives.