USDA WIC Telehealth Evaluation Collaborative

 

The purpose of the Telehealth Intervention Strategies for WIC (THIS-WIC) is to competitively select State Agencies to implement promising and well-designed telehealth innovations that supplement the WIC nutrition education including breastfeeding support offered in the WIC clinic, while decreasing barriers to access among WIC participants. THIS-WIC rigorously evaluates the interventions implemented by sub-grantees, including a process evaluation and cost estimate and disseminates findings to inform the WIC Program at the Federal, State, and local level, and contribute to the evidence base related to telehealth. Additionally, the program coordinates meetings that provide meaningful opportunities for information-sharing and project coordination.

Active 10.528 Food and Nutrition Service, Department of Agriculture B - Project Grants Fiscal Year 2020 USDA/Tufts Telehealth Intervention Strategies for WIC (THIS-WIC) accomplished and progressed to completing a number of milestones. On November 7, 2019, Tufts hosted the kickoff meeting with our leadership team and advisory board members. In early October 2019, THIS-WIC sent out an interest survey to WIC State Agencies (SAs) for the grant opportunity. They received responses from 60 unique SAs and heard from 48 SA Directors. Conducting the survey allowed THIS-WIC to build awareness around the grant opportunity while gathering valuable feedback on what technical support requests and concerns SAs have. The survey responses also helped to guide the creation of the Request for Proposal (RFP), including selection criteria and communication materials and resources (e.g., Resource Library). Throughout the first quarter, THIS-WIC has been working collaboratively with FNS to obtain feedback on the RFP. On February 5, 2020, THIS-WIC released the request for proposals (RFP) and launched the website. THIS-WIC worked collaboratively to disseminate the RFP broadly. Organizations such as the National WIC Association (NWA), Association of State Public Health Nutritionists, and Association of Maternal & Child Health Program raised awareness around the opportunity. THIS-WIC, NWA, and FNS sent announcement emails directly to WIC State Agency (SA) Directors. Additionally, phone calls were made in an attempt to engage SAs Directors that did not respond to our formative research survey in the fall. THIS-WIC organized three webinars to share general information about the RFP, Telehealth Resource Centers, and the evaluation process. The RFP, Telehealth Resource Center, and evaluation webinar had 107, 93, and 99 registrations respectively. The webinars engaged 36 unique SAs and had an average of 69 participants. The project management team (PMT) recorded webinars and posted them to the website shortly after their airing, along with responses to participants’ questions. After the webinars, THIS-WIC continued outreach to SAs through multiple channels. The THIS-WIC weekly digest engages 90 listserv members by sharing frequently asked questions, resources, and updates. Every Monday, NWA also reminds SAs of the opportunity through their Monday reports. Organizations such as the American Academy of Pediatrics and Black Mothers' Breast Feeding Association promoted the opportunity through social media (e.g., Twitter, Facebook). In addition to disseminating the RFP, the project management team organized procedures for reviewing brief and full proposals. The team finalized scoring rubrics and the SurveyMonkey Apply platform for the review process. The PMT also selected nine team members for the brief proposal review that cover the expertise of nutrition, WIC, and telehealth.
Fiscal Year 2021 By the end of year 2, October 2021, the grantee had selected the final THIS-WIC State Agency (SA) grantees, onboarded the SA grantees, worked closely with SA grantees to refine intervention planning and develop their individual evaluation plans, and worked with the THIS-WIC leadership team and FNS to finalize the cross-cutting and state-specific evaluation plans for the funded projects.
Fiscal Year 2022 By the end of year 3, September 2022, each of the seven THIS-WIC State Agency grantees began implementation of their telehealth projects and began collecting data to evaluate their projects, in accordance with their State-specific evaluation plans.
Fiscal Year 2023 Priority area 1 subgrantees have completed implementation and priority area 2 subgrantees are approaching completion of data collection. Data collection and analysis continues. Presentation on THIS-WIC early implementation findings planned at ASN in July 2023. Under this program, subject to the availability of funds, the Secretary of Agriculture may award competitive grants and cooperative agreements for the support of research projects to further USDA food and nutrition assistance programs., Title Child Nutrition Act of 1966, Section Section 17(g) (5)[1]
The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2019, specifically authorizes the allocation of $5,000,000 for telehealth competitive grants to supplement the nutrition education and breastfeeding support offered in the WIC clinic, and to decrease barriers to access to WIC services, particularly in rural communities, and other populations facing barriers to accessing support. Eligible entities include public and private colleges and universities and other non-profit research organizations. This Request for Application (RFA) is open to all Accredited Colleges/Universities, and Private or Public Non-profit Research Institutions or Organizations. WIC participants may benefit from telehealth funded subgrant projects. Not applicable. Preapplication coordination is not applicable. This program is excluded from coverage under 2 CFR 200, Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards. Following the initial screening process, FNS will assemble a panel group to review and determine the technical merits of each application. The panel will evaluate the proposals based on how well they address the required application components and array the applications from highest to lowest score. The panel members will recommend applications for consideration for a grant award based on the evaluation scoring. The selecting official reserves the right to accept the panel's recommendation or to select an application for funding out of order to meet agency priorities, program balance, geographical representation, or project diversity. FNS reserves the right to use this solicitation and competition to award additional grants in the next fiscal year should additional funds be made available. Contact the headquarters or regional location, as appropriate for application deadlines From 30 to 60 days. Awards are anticipated to be made before September 30, 2019. Not applicable. Not applicable. FNS will pre-screen all applications to ensure the applicants are eligible entities and are in compliance with all program regulations and to ensure that they contain the required documents and information, including but not limited to the project and budget narratives and all supporting documentation. Scoring for Grant Applications 1. Overall Approach (50 points) Evaluation of a grant application's Overall Approach will be based on: Sub-Grant Competition (20 points) o Proposed focus area for sub-grant competition and justification; o Proposed administration plan for executing the competitive RFP process; Sub-Grant Evaluation (20 points) o Relevant evaluation experience, skills in designing and carrying out program evaluations, experience collaborating with program practitioners; o Proposed approach to designing evaluations of sub-grantee interventions that demonstrates familiarity with common challenges specific to WIC; o Proposed evaluation design including specification of main research questions, hypothesis, and outcome measures of interest, approach to data collection, sample size specifications and associated justification, and analysis plans. Dissemination Plan (5 points) o Proposed approach to disseminating insights and findings from funded work as well as sharing resources with the WIC Program. Timeline (5 points) o A reasonable and clearly described timeline for meeting project milestones and providing deliverables. 2. Management Plan (15 Points) Criteria by which a grant application's Management Plan will be evaluated include: o Degree to which the Management Plan articulates how the applicant will provide the oversight necessary to ensure high-quality products, services, or outcomes and to keep the funded projects on time and within budget; o Practicality of the presented project timeline and whether presented milestones and deadlines are realistic and achievable; o Whether the Management Plan demonstrates effective internal controls of funds that are provided to partners and local agencies that ensure funds are used only for project purposes, with an accounting record and audit trail; o Plan for managing personnel associated with the project and for addressing any contingencies such as loss of key personnel. 3. Staffing (20 Points) Criteria by which a grant application's staffing plan will be evaluated include: o Identification and description of the roles and responsibilities of key personnel and other partners and staff involved in the proposed project; o Documentation of key personnel's necessary and relevant education, skills, and experience for their proposed roles on the project, and evidence that staff have expertise in WIC, evaluation, and similar interventions. Documentation includes relevant publications, prior funded activities, and presentations; Resumes of See Objectives section above for appropriate uses of grant funds to selected awardee Not applicable. Not applicable. Public access to Federal Financial Assistance records shall not be limited, except when such records must be kept confidential and would have been excepted from disclosure pursuant to the "Freedom of Information" regulation (5 U.S.C. 552). Statutory formula is not applicable to this assistance listing.

Matching requirements are not applicable to this assistance listing.

MOE requirements are not applicable to this assistance listing. Assistance is available between September 2019-September 2024. The anticipated award period runs from September 2019-September 2024. All funds must be spent by September 24, 2024. Based on financial reporting of expenses incurred. None/Not specified. Dr. Karen A. Castellanos-Brown
1320 Braddock Place
Alexandria, VA 22314 US
Karen.Castellanos-Brown@usda.gov
Phone: 7033052732 https://thiswic.nutrition.tufts.edu/ 12-3510-0-1-605 (Cooperative Agreements) FY 22$2,477,274.00; FY 23 est $1,297,148.00; FY 24 est $1,000,000.00; FY 21$0.00; FY 20$1,045,566.00; FY 19$0.00; FY 18 Estimate Not Available - In a 5-year funding cycle, the USDA anticipates awarding up to $8,500,000 in grant funding to support the creation of the WIC Telehealth Evaluation Collaborative, a WIC telehealth innovations research facility. The majority of these funds, $5,000,000, shall be awarded as sub-grants through a competitive process to WIC State Agencies for the purpose of implementing telehealth innovations that supplement the nutrition education and breastfeeding support offered in the WIC clinic. Not applicable. Fiscal Year 2021 The awardees are: District of Columbia—Advancing Telehealth Technology and Innovation in DC WIC DC WIC will evaluate and identify ways to enhance the agency’s current telehealth activities, including existing telehealth education tools. In addition, the project will investigate strategies for integrating telehealth into home visiting program delivery models. Georgia—Technology and WIC—A Comprehensive Approach to Public Health Georgia WIC plans to build on an existing statewide telehealth platform, Pathways Telehealth, to extend services beyond present boundaries, expanding the telehealth options to web and mobile and decrease barriers to access in rural communities, with the goal of influencing dietary habits and infant feeding practices. Michigan—Michigan Telehealth Project Advancing WIC Michigan WIC will implement a pilot study in six rural counties to integrate telehealth technology into their delivery of nutrition education and breastfeeding support services to participants virtually. Telehealth appointments will allow certified professionals to provide high-risk follow-up and secondary education to families. Staff will receive training throughout the study period on the telehealth solution. North Carolina—Catching up with the times: Bringing WIC to participants via Telehealth Solutions North Carolina WIC aims to decrease barriers of access to WIC services and increase focus on tailored nutritional needs through four different components: (1) a participant portal app for streamlining the certification process, (2) a video chat component available on the portal to host distance appointments, (3) fixed kiosks to be placed in high-participant-traffic areas of the community with participant portal capabilities, and (4) a TeleWICService Center to be utilized by local WIC agencies that are short-staffed to facilitate distance-based appointments. South Carolina—Telehealth Solutions for SC WIC South Carolina WIC will develop an online, mobile-friendly telehealth application to enable WIC participants to access WIC services including high-risk nutrition care planning, breastfeeding education, breastfeeding support, and high-risk assessment via one-on-one video chat, phone call, text messaging, and document sharing through the app. Vermont—Leveling Up: Delivery of Breastfeeding Education via Interactive Gamification Vermont WIC will develop a game-based telehealth solution for use during pregnancy and early postpartum weeks to promote breastfeeding initiation and longer duration. Through the game portal, qualified WIC staff members will be able to track a WIC participant’s progress in order to tailor counseling to their needs. The game is designed to work in low-bandwidth areas. Wisconsin—Online Nutrition Education (ONE) in Wisconsin Wisconsin WIC plans to develop a multifaceted mobile-optimized website through the ONE system, an innovative tool that will combine videoconferencing, online nutrition education, including lessons and supporting secondary material, a messaging center, and a link to their existing WIC App. Through the tool, qualified WIC professionals will be able to share key information and content with participants, and participants will be able to use the materials in their own time.
Fiscal Year 2022 See https://thiswic.nutrition.tufts.edu/funding/ for examples of the 7 funded projects.