Background: In 2020, the National WIC Association (NWA) launched the Advancing Health Equity to Achieve Diversity and Inclusion (AHEAD) in WIC project to institutionalize health equity in its work, build capacity to provide health equity education, tools, and technical assistance, and uplift health equity efforts in WIC at the local/state level. As part of this effort, a national survey of WIC stakeholders was conducted to assess the current landscape of equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) policies/practices and identify barriers to creating a more equitable WIC environment.

Methods: From December 2020-February 2021, the survey was administered using SurveyMonkey and distributed nationally through NWA’s various communication channels. Survey topics included: health equity as a strategic priority, EDI knowledge/capacity, EDI strategies/approaches in WIC services, and staff diversity and inclusion. Descriptive statistics were calculated in SPSS and qualitative responses were coded using qualitative content analysis in Atlas.ti.

Results/Implications: WIC stakeholders (n=1525) reported a number of promising practices including conducting on-going trainings/internal assessments to build awareness of systemic racism/implicit bias, establishing equity an committee/task force, and hiring/maintaining a racially/ethnically diverse staff. However, several gaps were identified where more efforts/training are needed, specifically building capacity related to gender identity, sexual minority status, disability, and systemic racism, increasing understanding about approaches to promote equity vs. equality, and creating infrastructure/system changes to foster EDI.This is the first national survey to assess EDI efforts in the WIC program. Results of the landscape scan have important implications for fostering EDI in WIC and federal food and nutrition assistance programs overall.