City of Columbia - Columbia Boone County Health Department Booune County Missouri

1005 W. Worley St.
Columbia, MO 65203

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

August 17, 2017

CONTACT: Eric Stann, Community Relations Specialist
(573) 874-7632 or [email protected]

Columbia/Boone County PHHS WIC program earns Loving Support Award of Excellence

(COLUMBIA, MO) -

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently awarded the Columbia/Boone County Public Health and Human Services Department (PHHS) WIC program the Loving Support Award of Excellence.  

The award program recognizes local WIC agencies that provide exemplary breastfeeding promotion and support activities. Only agencies that have operated a peer counseling program for at least one year while meeting all of the required core components of the USDA Food and Nutrition Services Loving Support Model for a Successful Peer Counseling Program were eligible to receive this award.

"We are honored to have received the Loving Support Award of Excellence. This award highlights our ongoing work of 15 years supporting and educating mothers of Boone County with breastfeeding assistance through peer counseling," PHHS Nutrition Supervisor Erin Harris said.

Columbia/Boone County joins 82 other WIC agencies across the United States in receiving this award, including five other agencies in the state of Missouri. Three levels of excellence were recognized: Gold, Gold Premiere and Gold Elite. Along with the other local agencies in the state of Missouri, Columbia/Boone County was awarded the Gold level.

The Loving Support Model is a national WIC breastfeeding promotional campaign, designed to encourage WIC participants to initiate and continue breastfeeding; increase referrals to WIC for breastfeeding support; increase general acceptance and support of breastfeeding; and provide technical assistance to WIC state and local agency professionals in the promotion of breastfeeding.

For more information on this award, please visit https://www.fns.usda.gov/wic/loving-support-award-excellence-program.



City of Columbia Vision
Columbia is the best place for everyone to live, work, learn and play.

City of Columbia Mission
To serve the public equitably through democratic, transparent and efficient government.

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