The Northern Windsor and Orange County Regional Council identified “Families and providers are aware of the benefits of participating in Women Infants and Children (WIC)“ as a priority for the year. At our December Council meeting we invited Hunger Free Vermont, the Vermont Food Bank and the Vermont Department of Health to explain about the different aspects of the program. We learned that WIC is a nutrition education program primarily and secondary supplemental food support. Those enrolled are required to come in every six months for an in person meeting and in between those meetings must do one nutritional activity. We also learned more about Hunger Free Vermont and the Hunger Council they staff for the Upper Valley. The Vermont Food Bank shared with us their programs such as Veggie Van Go and the backpack program. With this information, council members will be better able to help families they serve who may need assistance understanding WIC or with supplemental food.
The region is also in the beginning stages of setting up an Early Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (Early MTSS) Regional Leadership team. The aim of this group is to bring together the multiple places implementing Early MTTSS across the region, align resources, and determine capacity. The group is busy expanding the leadership team, completing the benchmarks of quality, and determining action steps.
The council is continuing to support showings of the film “Resilience” across the region while partnering with community organizations such as the Special Needs Support Center, child care providers and others. We will continue to show the film throughout the region in the spring.