Title: Visualizing the Impact of COVID-19 on WIC

Abstract:

Insight Policy Research (Insight) collaborated with the National WIC Association and five state agencies (District of Columbia, Idaho, North Carolina, Vermont, and Wyoming) to produce a series of interactive Tableau dashboards that explore recent trends in COVID-19 and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC).

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way we live and work. Under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, state agencies that administer WIC are permitted to adjust their program operations to allow more people to obtain benefits while minimizing personal contact. These dashboards explore the ways COVID-19 has affected WIC participation and the use of WIC benefits. The dashboards also display trends in COVID-19 cases and unemployment claims in each state.

This presentation will discuss how the Insight team worked with administrative data from five state agencies and collaborated with each of the states to design tailored visualizations to meet the needs of each state agency. The presentation will also cover how the Insight team identified the appropriate dashboard layouts and built each dashboard.

The final visualizations are publicly available on Tableau Public: https://public.tableau.com/profile/insight.policy.research#!/vizhome/WIC_COVID_Dashboard/MAIN. The main dashboard contains information on WIC and COVID-19 cases across the United States. Five subsequent dashboards contain state-specific information on COVID-19 cases, unemployment trends, and WIC participation and redemption patterns. Insight updates the data each month.