Late last month, California’s food stamps program, CalFresh, began allowing beneficiaries to buy groceries online at participating stores—a recent upgrade to the program that lets families skip potentially perilous grocery shopping trips during the coronavirus pandemic and limit the spread of the disease. Now, food policy advocates are asking the state to provide the same purchasing opportunity for pregnant women and families with young children who get benefits through WIC.
“We applaud the new availability of online shopping for (CalFresh) customers, but why would we not extend the same service to the women, infants and children who rely on WIC?” says Jared Call, Senior Advocate at California Food Policy Advocates. “Grocery delivery helps families avoid in-person interaction at stores and adhere to stay at home orders.”
Health equity, not just convenience, is a key reason why allowing WIC recipients to shop online is so critical. California has the largest WIC program in the U.S., according to a 2017 report. In the state, 60 percent of all babies received WIC services, 16 percentage points more than the national average. Most recipients are people of color: 75 percent are Latino, 12 percent are White, 6.5 percent are African American, 6 percent are Asian, and 0.5 percent are Native American.
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