At the early stages of the pandemic and in response to issues regarding low stock, The Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS) obtained a waiver from the USDA as part of the authority given to them from section 2204(a)(1) of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (P.L. 116-127) through June 30, 2020 to allow the substitution of milk for any available fat content. Effective July 1, 2020, this waiver will end and participants will be expected to select milk with the fat content listed on their Food Instruments. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact IDHS Bureau of Family Nutrition at DHS.WICVendor@illinois.gov.
DHS moved all annual trainings to an online format in April 2020. All vendors were scheduled to attend either a webinar or conference call training in May or June. Any vendors who have not completed the annual training requirement as of July 1, 2020 will be scheduled for a final makeup class scheduled for a date in July. Invitations to these trainings will be sent to the vendors directly via certified mail as well as by email. If you believe that you should have been scheduled for a makeup class and do not receive an email from the WIC office by July 6, 2020, please contact us directly for your scheduled class date.
Due to the COVID-19 public health emergency, WIC State Office staff are working remotely. We are still available during normal office hours, however there may be a delay in response. If you need to contact the WIC Vendor Management Unit, please email DHS.WICVendor@illinois.gov or call 844-901-0962 (and leave a voicemail). We will contact you as soon as possible. Please pay attention to the following notices as they apply to the current situation.
While Governor Pritzker has deemed grocery stores and pharmacies as essential businesses allowed to remain open, please let us know if your store needs to temporarily close. This will allow us to help participants find other places to shop.
While we understand why some stores have placed quantity limits on certain items that are currently in high demand, we wish to remind you that WIC participants are to be allowed to purchase the quantity of items on their WIC checks as long as stock is available, regardless of the store's quantity limit.
We will be continuing to post updates on this web-page as they are available and recommend that you check back often. Also, most communications directly to our vendors will be taking place via email effective immediately. It is imperative that all WIC Vendors provide a valid email address. WIC Vendors are responsible for all communications sent to them electronically or via postal mail. If you have not yet submitted an email address, you may send an email to DHS.WICVendor@illinois.gov with the vendor's name, address, and vendor number.
