Officials at the Arkansas Department of Health have announced that an arrangement has been reached with the United States Department of Agriculture to preserve benefits and jobs in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children on a week-to-week basis.
“We have been able to work some things out with the USDA,” said Cathy Flanagin, director of health communications with the ADH. “Arkansas will receive contingency funding from the USDA for administrative costs and food vouchers at the current level that will get us through this week.
“They are then looking at doing some reallocation of federal funding that should allow ADH to provide WIC food vouchers at the current level on a weekly basis throughout October,” Flanagin said.
Flanagin said the ADH is in regular contact with its federal government counterparts to stay abreast of the lastest information.
There are 273 ADH employees who would otherwise be furloughed without the USDA funding because their jobs are funded by the WIC program.
The Arkansas WIC Program is administered by the ADH through a grant provided by the Food and Nutrition Service of the USDA.