Food Vouchers

This is a supplemental food program that provides food vouchers and nutrition education for pregnant women, new and/or breastfeeding mothers, infants, and children younger than five who live in the Antelope Valley. Services include breast pumps, breastfeading support programs, food vouchers, nutrition education, pregnancy/childbirth support groups and WIC. Intake is centralized and services are provided at various community sites. Eligible applicants meet federal low-income guidelines and have been determined to be at nutritional risk by a health professional; they may include undocumented women. When funding is cut, services may only be provided to pregnant women and children younger than age one.

The program provides vouchers that are redeemed at authorized stores for specified foods such as milk, eggs, cheese, juice, peanut butter, beans and infant formula. Vouchers are issued monthly and must be used within 30 days. Participants also receive regular medical assessments. If eligibility continues, women may participate in WIC for as long as six months after their baby is born or up to one year if they are breastfeeding, or earlier, if the nutritional problem is resolved. Infants and children may participate until age five unless the nutritional problem is solved first.