Recipient Organization
CHN NEBRASKA
8401 WEST DODGE RD SUITE 100
OMAHA,NE 681143494
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
WETAC aims to support WIC workforce development by addressing the workforce needs of WIC agencies, enhancing diversity and cultural competency, and increasing the uptake of WIC benefits and services. Main objectives include: (1) Assembling a team of experts to provide technical assistance (TA) to implementation grantees using a culturally relevant, high-touch, concierge model. Key outputs include identifying TA needs, developing resources to address capacity gaps, creating a website to house resources and disseminate information, and fostering peer-to-peer learning through communities of practice; (2) Advancing evidence-based WIC workforce strategies through evaluations alignedwith implementation science and Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility principles. Outputs include shared measures for grantees, tailored evaluation plans, annual datasets compiled with an associated public-facing report, and a comprehensive evaluation report in year five; (3) Integrating Traditional Ecological Knowledge and culturally responsive care into engagement and outreach plans (EOPs). Outputs include compiling cultural needs, establishing culturally relevant subcommittees, and developing tailored EOPs; (4) Forming a National WIC Workforce Advisory Workgroup to provide input, TA, and guidance. Outputs include documenting Workgroup activities, conductingmeetings, and disseminating resources. Together, these objectives are expected to yield outcomes including increased capacity for implementing and evaluating WIC workforce strategies, improved knowledge of strategies, improved outreach and engagement and increased capacity for culturally responsive methods, improved application of human-centered design approaches, and increased alignment with WIC program requirements. The Center for Nutrition and Health Impact will leverage its expertise to support the National WIC Workforce Strategy through these comprehensive and sustained solutions.
Animal Health Component
25%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
25%
Applied
25%
Developmental
50%
Goals / Objectives
The overarching goal of the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, And Children (WIC) Workforce - Evaluation and Technical Assistance Center (WETAC) is to support and facilitate comprehensive and sustained solutions for WIC workforce development, including meeting the workforce needs of WIC State and local agencies. This goal also emphasizes enhancing the diversity and cultural competency of the WIC workforce to increase reach and representativeness of WIC participants and enhance the uptake of benefits and services by WIC participants. To achieve this goal, the WETAC will carry out the following objectives:1. Provide and continuously improve technical assistance services that optimize the experience of WIC workforce implementation grantees.2. Design and facilitate/support rigorous and consistent evaluation and reporting across all grantee projects centered on American Rescue Plan Act and diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility principles.3. Support the development of engagement and outreach plans for each grantee grounded in Traditional Ecological Knowledge and culturally responsive care across settings and communities.4. Develop and facilitate a National WIC Workforce Advisory Workgroup.?
Project Methods
Methods for Objective 1Objective 1 engages WETAC partners (including Workgroup) to provide grantees with technical assistance (TA) support for project execution (e.g., staffing model documentation, role of paraprofessionals) and evaluation. TA will be administered through a culturally relevant high-touch, concierge model. Each grantee will be assigned to a WETAC team, including CNHI scientist, project manager, and research associate.TA provision will be evidence-based, and activities may include: kickoff meetings, 1:1 and group advising, written guidance and templates, project-specific tailored evaluation plans, recorded webinars, videos on demand, site visits, convenings, communities of practice, and project-specific engagement and outreach strategies. Key outputs will include resources developed to help bridge capacity and content needs among grantees and the broader WIC community. Peer-to-peer learning and sharing of best practices will be fostered through convenings every two years and communities of practice. TA will be iterative and monitored through continuous quality improvement by collecting surveys with grantees along with guidance from the Workgroup, NIFA, and FNS.Methods for Objective 2Objective 2 outlines the activities, outputs, and outcomes surrounding the evaluation and reporting related to grantee projects. We will center the rigorous evaluation on the reach, effectiveness, adoption, implementation, and maintenance (RE-AIM) framework, grounded in diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) principals (e.g., respect and dignity, equity and inclusion, trust and integrity, service and results, and science leadership); WIC Workforce Strategy recommendations; and alignment with FNS's overall ARPA evaluation strategy. Each grantee will receive input and TA around their evaluation plans and the WETAC will implement shared measures to the degree that is possible and will include both qualitative and quantitative data. Evaluation plans and measures will be shared with NIFA and FNS for approval and implemented, revised, and re-approved iteratively as projects evolve and needs arise. An annual public facing report and associated companion pieces (e.g., briefs, presentations) that will summarize all relevant shared metrics and data from individual grantee project evaluations will be generated as a means to make WETAC data publicly available in a way that protects personally identifiable information.Methods for Objective 3To ensure that engagement and outreach plans (EOP) are grounded in Traditional Ecological Knowledge, we will work with grantees, the Workgroup, and a wide array of potential partners as relevant to identify key Traditional Ecological Knowledge grounded in culturally-responsive care and locally led adaptation principles for diverse and inclusive outreach and engagement. Each grantee's EOP will be reviewed to identify community-specific and cultural needs (e.g., workforce composition, population sociodemographics, translation needs) and grantees' existing partners to support WIC workforce development. The Workgroup and WIC community will provide input to EOPs and TA to support implementation provided. Success will be tracked using mutually agreed upon metrics determined by the grantee with feedback from the Workgroup, NIFA, and FNS.Methods for Objective 4Objective 4 forms the National WIC Workforce Advisory Workgroup (Workgroup) comprised of subject matter experts that reflect the diversity of communities served by WIC and that complement the disciplines and expertise of the CNHI team. These disciplines and expertise may include: 1) WIC Competent Professional Authority requirements, 2) culturally diverse populations and communities of color, 3) SNAP-ED and EFNEP, 4) Land-grant and Tribal colleges and universities, 5) cultural competency training, and 6) staffing patterns/efficiencies. Additional members may be added based on the grantees projects and the needs identified as well as engaging NIFA and FNS. We will host a kickoff meeting with the Workgroup to level-set on project and evaluation plans, establish concrete expectations, and review next steps. The Workgroup will be engaged through in-person bi-annual convenings and virtual meetings as appropriate to elicit input and inform evaluation and TA approaches, report plan, metrics, resource development, and overarching strategy. CNHI will tailor the approaches for Objectives 1-3 based on Workgroup feedback, grantee engagement, and the direction of NIFA/FNS. The Workgroup will be charged with addressing TA needs, including contributing to resources, trainings, and webinars, engaging in communities of practice and bi-annual convenings, providing ad-hoc 1:1 TA to grantees, soliciting feedback from others in the WIC community, and disseminating project materials and resources to the broader WIC community, as needed. To support the development of training, resources (including webinars, toolkits, service blueprints, journey maps, workflow examples, and reports), and other TA outlined in Objective 1, CNHI will form smaller, action-focused subcommittees comprised of three to five Workgroup members that have content knowledge or experience specific to the topic or resource.