Community Bridges administers the federal Women, Infants and Children program in Santa Cruz County and has three offices, including this one in Watsonville. Program leaders are worried the federal government shutdown could impact services. (Amaya Edwards — Santa Cruz Local/CatchLight Local)

Update Oct. 31: Community Bridges said in a press release Oct. 28 that WIC benefits would continue uninterrupted past Nov. 1. 

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY >> A key nutrition assistance program for infants, children and pregnant, breastfeeding and postpartum women could be forced to temporarily shutter if the federal government shutdown drags into November. About 5,500 Santa Cruz County residents currently benefit from the program.

The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, or WIC, provides nutrition education, breastfeeding support, free diapers and money for baby formula, fruits, vegetables, eggs and other food staples. Low-income pregnant people and families with children up to five years old are eligible. WIC is a federally funded program with three offices in Santa Cruz County that could feel the effects of the shutdown. 

Research has suggested participating in WIC is linked with better health outcomes for infants and children — including healthier birth weights, lower infant mortality and higher cognitive scores in early childhood.

“If this program were to shut down for any significant amount of time, it’d be a huge impact to the people that we serve,” said Tony Nuñez, a spokesman for local nonprofit Community Bridges, which administers WIC in Santa Cruz County. “It means all of these families that we serve, these 5,500 folks — who are some of the most vulnerable people in our community — are not going to have the services that they rely on to make ends meet.”

The National WIC Association said Sept. 30 the program had enough money to stay open for a week or two in a government shutdown, after which states would have to step in to fund it. As the nation approaches week three of the shutdown that began Oct. 1, both Democrats and Republicans have pledged to keep WIC funded.

Last week the Trump administration directed $300 million of tariff revenue to keep the program afloat through October. On Tuesday, Democrats introduced a bill that would make funding for WIC mandatory rather than subject to annual budget decisions.

California is in a better position than most other states to keep WIC operating if the federal dollars disappear, Nuñez said. That’s partially because the state has some carryover funds for the program from the prior fiscal year. 

“If the government shutdown extends past October, I think that that’s when the big concern comes in,” he said.

Celina Martinez, a nutrition educator specialist for WIC at Community Bridges, said the program is critical for low-income families, in part by offsetting the cost of groceries. 

“Eggs, cheese — they’re pretty expensive, you know. They can actually use that money to pay other bills, other utilities. So that’s a huge help,” said Martinez, adding that she is worried for the families that receive WIC benefits. “I care about the families. I come from a low-income family as well, so I grew up using all these services too.”

Celina Martinez works as a nutrition educator specialist for the federal Women, Infants and Children program in Santa Cruz County. (Amaya Edwards — Santa Cruz Local/CatchLight Local)

Martinez said she also worries for herself and her coworkers who could be furloughed if the program shutters. Furloughed federal workers typically receive back pay and resume their jobs once a government shutdown ends, but the Trump Administration has warned some workers might not receive back pay and has so far laid off thousands of furloughed workers.

Though it’s unclear how long the shutdown will last, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., on Monday said Republicans will not budge and the shutdown could become the longest in history. 

The government shutdown began after Democrats refused to approve a funding bill for the current fiscal year in an attempt to pressure Republicans to negotiate over health care spending. 

Democrats want to reverse deep cuts to Medicaid approved in the July 4 budget reconciliation bill — named the One Big Beautiful Bill Act —  that would cause millions of Americans to lose health insurance, including about 21,000 Santa Cruz County residents. 

Cuts to WIC were not included in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, but a policy brief from the National WIC Association stated that the programs are interconnected and the cuts would indirectly affect WIC participants. Qualifying for Medicaid is one way that people can automatically qualify for WIC, the brief stated, and more than three million could lose eligibility for WIC because of Medicaid cuts.

Read more about the local effects of federal policies under the second Trump administration.

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