New Charlotte farmers market program will give $30 to women, children in need

Mecklenburg County launched a new program last week to bring fresh, local produce to qualifying pregnant and women with 2-4-year-old children at no cost.

Recipients must be enrolled in the Women, Infants and Children program, a national nutrition program administered through the U.S. Department of Agriculture with thousands of local offices. The program will provide eligible participants with a one-time electronic benefit of $30 to purchase fruits and vegetables at three local farmers markets: Charlotte Regional Farmers Market, Uptown Farmers Market and North Meck Community Farmers Market. WIC will issue benefits until September 30, but people have until October 30 to use them.

“We know food security is a really high concern for mothers, infants and children,” said Lisa Nee, the county’s Senior Health Program Manager. “We continue to see that from our partners and see it in the data.”

The WIC Farmers Market program came out of the county’s collaboration with its local WIC office, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services and the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Food Policy Council. In the past, the state hasn’t had enough money to open a new WIC Farmers Market application, said Kenya Joseph, board chair of the Food Policy Council. That changed this spring.

Mamie Harris, the county’s Food Security Program Manager, said one of the reasons the farmers market project expanded to Charlotte was because of the county’s low enrollment of people in WIC.

To incentivize eligible people to participate in the program and help families purchase fresh produce, the Mecklenburg County Food Security Program will give people an additional $30 when they participate in a qualifying market. Joseph added that this will help families stretch their benefits. The county will continue to run this additional benefit program until the season ends or its budget to do so runs out.

This program will support food insecure women and children as well as local farms, Harris said. The WIC program prioritizes fresh, local produce, in turn supporting farmers’ income.

“We are hoping that we can showcase a sustainable system by which many of our food insecure households can have access to fresh local produce,” Harris said.

Markets participating in the WIC program must have eligible vendors who go through a training program with DHHS. The county hopes to expand WIC to more farmers markets in the future, Harris added.

“Many of our population are excited about the increased access to food,” Harris said. “We are hoping this excitement translates to the numbers seen.”