REP LIEU ANNOUNCES GUEST FOR PRESIDENT TRUMP’S JOINT ADDRESS TO CONGRESS
WASHINGTON – Today, Congress Ted W. Lieu (D-Los Angeles County) announced that his guest for President Donald Trump’s Joint Address to Congress will be Shannon Whaley, Ph.D., Director of Research and Evaluation at PHFE WIC. PHFE WIC, a program of Heluna Health, is the largest nonprofit WIC nutrition network in the United States, serving more than 190,000 low-income individuals each month in Los Angeles, Orange and San Bernardino counties.
WIC is a special supplemental nutrition program for women, infants and children funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which provides health foods at no-cost to families and caretakers of babies and young children who are nutritionally vulnerable. WIC also benefits farmers by encouraging participants to enjoy fresh, unprepared, locally grown fruits and vegetables. Nearly 80 percent of families served by WIC also benefit from healthcare coverage provided through Medicaid.
“Shannon and her colleagues offer vital services at PHFE WIC that help meet the nutritional and health needs of vulnerable women and young children throughout our community,” Rep. Lieu said. “WIC relies on federal funding through the U.S. Department of Agriculture to provide healthy and nutritious foods to babies, toddlers, and their mothers. The vast majority of WIC beneficiaries also receive Medicaid. Together, WIC and Medicaid help to ensure the baseline needs of these vulnerable populations are met. Shannon’s work underscores how important federal funding is in helping to make our community nourished and healthy. Indiscriminate cuts to Medicaid and other vital federal funding will have a devastating impact on those in need of help, including the people that PHFE WIC serves. I am pleased that Shannon is joining me for the Joint Address so that we can uplift the stories of WIC recipients and underscore how vital federal funding is.”
About Dr. Whaley:
Shannon E. Whaley, Ph.D.,is the Director of Research and Evaluation for PHFE WIC, a program of Heluna Health. PHFE WIC is the largest local agency WIC program in the nation, serving over 190,000 women, infants, and children every month with healthy food, nutrition education, breastfeeding support and linkages to health care. Dr. Whaley’s expertise is in the planning, development and evaluation of programs designed to optimize the healthy development of children and families served by WIC. During her 26 years with WIC, her work has spanned a broad range of topics including childhood nutrition and obesity, promotion of early literacy for low-income children, and the impacts of nutrition education, breastfeeding support and the WIC food package on WIC participants. Her research team demonstrated that for every $1 invested in WIC, taxpayers save $2.48 in later health care expenditures, and her current work is focused on documenting the positive impacts of the important efficiencies brought to the WIC program during the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Whaley served on the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine Committee to Review the WIC Food Packages (2014-2017) and continues to focus on how WIC services positively impact not only the health outcomes of the women, infants and children served by the program, but the economic stability of surrounding communities.
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