Georgia Children's Cabinet Visits the Boulevard WIC Center

Atlanta, GA- First Lady Deal and the Georgia Children’s Cabinet continue to support September’s Healthy Choices Month by visiting the Boulevard WIC (a special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children) Center for Health and Rehabilitation in downtown Atlanta on Thursday, September 25th. Visitors toured the facility and saw first-hand the important work being done to educate and train Georgia’s parents and children about the importance of choosing a healthy diet. Attendees were furnished with educational materials and a series of surveys that are conducted with Georgians who visit WIC Clinics in order to gauge the nutritional and physical well-being of our state’s children and families. Through additional training provided by the Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta through Georgia’s SHAPE initiative, Georgia’s WIC clinics can now provide additional services and more effective counseling on healthy choices to families. With 199 locations around the state, WIC Centers are a vital resource for implementing the SHAPE initiative, a large-scale state partnership involving the Department of Public Health and Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, which aims to increase the physical fitness and nutritional habits of young people. Fulton County in particular, including the Boulevard WIC Center, spearheaded many of the program elements that are now being implemented across the state.

WIC centers provide individuals with increased access to food, health care options, and nutritional education for low-income pregnant, breastfeeding, and non-breastfeeding postpartum women and their children up to five years of age who are found to be at nutritional risk. Georgia operates the seventh largest WIC program in the nation, which is administered by the Department of Public Health.