How To Apply For WIC In Colorado
Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, also know as WIC, is a program that is designed to help low-income pregnant, postpartum, and breastfeeding women, infants, and children 5 years old or younger who are at nutritional risk. The Colorado WIC program accomplishes this by providing nutritious foods to supplement diets, information that can help provide healthy eating options including breastfeeding, and referrals to health care. If you are looking to know how to apply for WIC in Colorado, then read the information provided below.
Who Can Qualify For Colorado WIC
WIC is for all kinds of families: married and single parents, working or not working. If you're a father, mother, grandparent, foster parent or other legal guardian of a child under 5, you can apply for WIC. You can participate in Colorado WIC if you:
- Live in Colorado
- Are pregnant or breastfeeding, and/or have a child younger than 5 years
- Have a family income less than WIC guidelines
- Currently get Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), food stamps or Medicaid
- Have a foster child under age 5
To apply for WIC benefits, please call your local WIC clinic. For eligibility and appointment information call 1-800-688-7777. Find out whether you qualify by using the online Colorado PEAK "Am I Eligible" tool to find out whether you may be eligible for WIC benefits.
What to bring to your WIC certification appointment:
- Your infant/child
- Immunization records for infants and children
- Identification for each family member applying for WIC. It must be a current, original document (not a photocopy):
- Drivers license
- Medicaid card
- Colorado ID card
- Work/student/military ID
- Passport/U.S. Government ID
- Birth certificate –original or certified copy
- Social Security card-original
- Foster child papers
- U.S. immunization record (infant/child)
- U.S. hospital documents (for infants. examples include infant wristband, footprint card, discharge papers. Hospital documents must include the name of hospital, date of birth and mother’s name
- One of the following items, to prove your address:
- Drivers license
- Food Stamp eligibility notice
- Government ID/document
- Utility or other bill
- Government mail
- Rental agreement/mortgage receipt/statement from landlord
- Bank or credit card statement
- Car registration/title/insurance
- Pay stub/W2
- Current or recent proof of income
- Bring documentation for all income received by the household members, whether or not they are related
- Food stamp eligibility notice
- Check stubs from employment
- W-2 forms or income tax forms
- Military Leave and Earnings Statement (LES)
- SSI letter or check stub
- Written statement from employer
- Self-employment documentation
- Child support/alimony document
- Student award letter
- Foster placement/award letter
WIC Income Guidelines
| Family Size* | Yearly | Monthly | Weekly |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $21,978 | $1,832 | $423 |
| 2 | $29,637 | $2,470 | $570 |
| 3 | $37,296 | $3,108 | $718 |
| 4 | $44,955 | $3,747 | $865 |
| 5 | $52,614 | $4,385 | $1,012 |
| 6 | $60,273 | $5,023 | $1,160 |
| 7 | $67,951 | $5,663 | $1,307 |
| 8 | $75,647 | $6,304 | $1,455 |
| For each additional family member, add: | +$7,696 | +$642 | +$148 |
*If you are pregnant, count yourself as two. To find out if you are eligible, please contact your local WIC clinic.
To participate in the Colorado WIC Program, you must meet the following three criteria:
Categorical: You must be one of the following:
- Pregnant woman
- Breastfeeding woman (up to one year after the delivery of a baby)
- Postpartum woman who isn't breastfeeding (up to six 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.
Income: To financially qualify for the WIC Program, your combined household gross income can't exceed the WIC Income Eligibility Guidelines (IEG). The WIC IEGs are 185 percent of the Poverty Guidelines published in the Federal Register on March 23, 2012 by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Use the following steps to manually calculate gross income.
- If your 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 your 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
- Don't round the values resulting from each conversion
- Add together all the unrounded, converted values
- Compare the total with the annual income for the appropriate household size to determine income eligibility
Address: Participants in the Colorado WIC Program must live in Colorado. Generally, they also must 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 his or her county.
You also can complete the online WIC Prescreening Tool to determine whether you may be eligible for WIC benefits. This tool isn't an application for WIC. To apply for WIC benefits, please call your local WIC clinic.