WIC Eligibility

Source: http://www.colorado.gov/cs/Satellite/CDPHE-PSD/CBON/1251618409114

In order to participate in the Colorado WIC Program a person must meet the following three criteria:

1. Categorical - a person must be one of the following:

• Pregnant woman
• Breastfeeding woman (up to one year after the delivery of a baby)
• Postpartum woman who is not breastfeeding (up to 6 months after the delivery of a baby)
• Infant
• Child up to 5 years of age
  • Not all categories are served in all Colorado counties. In Weld, Rio Grande, Conejos, and Costilla counties the categories served by WIC are limited because of the availability of the Commodity Supplemental Foods Program.

2. Income - In order to financially qualify for the WIC Program, a participant’s combined household gross income cannot exceed the WIC Income Eligibility Guidelines (IEG). The WIC IEGs are 185% of the Poverty Guidelines published in the Federal Register on 03/23/2012 by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

WIC INCOME ELIGIBILITY GUIDELINES

These income guidelines are effective July 1, 2012 through June 30, 2013

NOTE: Add one to household size for a pregnant woman

Use the following steps to manually calculate gross income.

• If a household had only one income source or if all income sources have the same frequency, compare the income, or the sum of the separate incomes, to the published WIC Income Eligibility Guidelines for the appropriate frequency and household size.
• If a household reports income sources at more than one frequency, perform the following calculations.
  • Annualize all income by multiplying weekly income by 52, income received every two weeks by 26, income received twice a month by 24, and income received monthly by 12.
  • Do no round the values resulting from each conversion.
  • Add together all the unrounded, converted values.
  • Compare the total to the annual income for the appropriate household size to determine income eligibility.

3. Address - Participants in the Colorado WIC program must live in Colorado. Generally, they are also required to be served in the county where they live. In some cases one local WIC agency may serve several counties. In that case, a person must be served by the local agency that provides services for their county.

Not sure if you qualify? You can also complete the online WIC Prescreening Tool to determine if you may be eligible for WIC benefits. This Prescreening Tool is not an application for WIC. To apply for WIC benefits, please call your local WIC clinic.