Kentucky WIC provides supplemental nutrition food and nutritional education to low-income women, infants and children, living in the state of Kentucky and meet income requirements for the program. The program also provides referral services for health care in addition to nutritional education, all at no cost at all.

In addition to standard requirements for the program, the applicants also need to be on a nutritional risk to get the program benefits. Being on nutritional risk can mean two different types of risks i.e. medical-based nutritional risk and diet-based nutritional risk. In order to call such a condition as nutritional risk, it has to be determined by a qualified health professional. Such determination is free of cost.

WIC program provides numerous benefits to its participants. Many nutrition services are available including nutrition education, breastfeeding education and support. The program also provides a monthly prescription so that the participants can buy food rich in nutritional value, including vegetables, fruits, formula milk, soymilk, bread, and cereals. The program provides fresh supply of locally grown fruit and vegetables through WIC Farmers Market Nutrition Program.

The program supports breastfeeding and provides additional benefits to women who breastfeed their babies. Breast milk is the best natural diet for infants. The program understands that not all the women are prepared to breastfeed their babies so it provides education and support for women so that they can understand why and how to breastfeed babies.

Kentucky WIC program promotes eating more fruits and vegetables since they are good source of nutrition for everyday life. Consuming more fruit and vegetables helps in fighting cancer, heart disease and keeping the risk low of type 2 cancer. Kentucky WIC program provides special grant to program beneficiaries so that they can keep their diet healthy and nutritional by adding more fruits and vegetables to their meals.

Kentucky WIC program helps to reduce the rate of fatal death, infant mortality and low birth weight. The program also helps infants grow healthy and strong, who are otherwise on a nutritional risk. Women participating in the program will receive prenatal care if they are pregnant. In case of breastfeeding and postpartum women, the benefits continue till the first birthday of infant and fifth birthday of the child. The children receiving WIC help will be intellectually better developed and ready for school despite their original status being a nutritional risk.

Eligibility Requirements

In order to receive Kentucky WIC benefits, one has to be:

• U.S citizen or qualified aliens
• Resident of Kentucky

In addition to these requirements, you've to be one of the following to receive benefits:

• Pregnant woman
• Breastfeeding woman
• Postpartum women
• Infants under the age of one (1)
• Children under the age of five (5)

Anyone who falls in the categories mentioned above will be able to qualify for Kentucky WIC benefits if they meet these additional requirements:

• Countable resources should be within the resources limit
• There should be a nutritional risk as determined by a qualified health professional
• Gross monthly income should be within the income guidelines :

Household Size	Weekly	Bi-Weekly	Twice Monthly	Monthly	Annual
1	$519	$1,038	$1,124	$2,248	$26,973
2	$702	$1,404	$1,521	$3,041	$36,482
3	$885	$1,769	$1,917	$3,833	$45,991
4	$1,068	$2,135	$2,313	$4,625	$55,500
5	$1,251	$2,501	$2,709	$5,418	$65,009
6	$1,434	$2,867	$3,105	$6,210	$74,518
7	$1,616	$3,232	$3,502	$7,003	$84,027
8	$1,799	$3,598	$3,898	$7,795	$93,536
Each Additional	+$183	+$366	+$397	+$793	+$9,509

Those already on Medicaid, KTAP, or Food Stamps will automatically qualify the income test.

In order to check your eligibility for Kentucky WIC, please use this pre-screening tool.

WIC Application Instructions

To apply for WIC program in Kentucky, you will have to contact a local WIC program office. You can find an office of Health Department near you using this link.

Once you apply for the program, you will receive a date for an interview appointment. You will be interviewed and you will have to take your documents to prove your eligibility. You will need to provide proof of your identity, proof of residence, and proof of income in order to be eligible for the program.

If you're deemed eligible, you will be given a simple health and diet screening to see what foods you need.

If you face a problem or need quick help to apply for WIC in Kentucky, you can call the toll-free hotline at 1-800-462-6122.