On March 4th, 2026 the California WIC Association was honored for our work in data linkages by Connecting for Better Health with a Community Trailblazer Award at their Annual Dinner celebrating “Shared Milestones, Collective Momentum”. From the beginning this work has been a collaboration between local WIC agencies, health information exchanges (HIEs), community information exchanges (CIEs), clinics, health care providers, and other thought partners. It started with an idea and a collaboration with our colleague Melissa Cannon, formerly at Nourish CA and now at CDPH WIC, to streamline referrals to local WIC agencies from health care providers and provide access to WIC relevant clinical data. All with the goal to ease barriers for participants and administrative burden for WIC staff, strengthen collaboration, and improve access to services.
The first project, in 2022, included one local WIC agency, Community Bridges in Santa Cruz, and Serving Communities Health Information Organization (SCHIO). In 2023, we expanded to Los Angeles with Northeast Valley Health Center and Watts Health Corporation, who have WIC agencies as part of their health clinics, and Los Angeles Network for Enhanced Services (LANES). Today we continue to expand with seven more local WIC agencies in health clinics, county health depts, and non-profits in San Diego, Los Angeles, Trinity, and Lassen Counties linking with local health care providers through San Diego Health Connect (SDHC), LANES, and SacValley MedShare (SVMS).
It has been a continual learning process on all sides, and we are so delighted by the enthusiasm to continue to carry this work forward. By using this model, WIC agencies are showing one way health care, and social service agencies can provide whole person care, and integrate and share relevant, program specific data responsibly in the Data Exchange Framework (DxF).
This is just the beginning of a huge opportunity for the DxF and CalAIM goals. California WIC, managed by the California Department of Public Health, WIC Division, with 83 WIC local agencies across the state, serves approximately one million women, infants and children each month, about half of infants born in California!! The California WIC Association, will continue to work with partners to expand these linkages and contribute to our state DxF and CalAIM goals.
Thank you to the Connecting for Better Health team, the board, and Timi Leslie for this honor and your avid support!