Prather WIC Program

29406 Auberry Rd, Prather, CA 9361

(559) 855-6564

Sarah Alarid, Dietetic Intern

CRDN 4.8 Business Plan

 Table of Contents

1. Sections

a. Executive Summary…………………………………………………………….page 2

b. Description of the Business and Business Concept……………..page 3

c. Opportunity and Strategy…………………………………………………...page 4

d. Target Market and Projection……………………………………………..page 5

e. Competitive Advantage……………………………………………………...page 7

f. Economics…………………………………………………………………………..page 8

i. Floor Plan………………………………………………………………..page 9

ii. Team…………………………………………………………………….…page 9

2. Appendix………………………………………………………………………………………..page 10

3. References……………………………………………………………………………….…….page 15

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 Executive Summary

WIC is a multi-component, comprehensive, effective and cost-saving public health

nutrition program designed to address the specific health and nutrition needs of at-risk

pregnant, postpartum, and breastfeeding women, and infants and children of low-income

status.

As of February 2020, the closest WIC Program to the Auberry/Prather/Tollhouse

community is about 30 miles away in Clovis, CA. There is only a single bus that goes to the

Fresno/Clovis area just one day a week and needs to be reserved with a full day’s notice. This

means that residents who rely solely on public transport in this community do not have direct

access to WIC services the majority of the week. This creates an opportunity to transfer WIC

participants to the Prather WIC Program and enroll new participants from this community for

the reason that there is a much closer location.

The Auberry/Prather/Tollhouse community is home to 7,000 residents and has a lower

than average gross annual income than the rest of California.

Opening the Prather WIC program would have many competitive advantages, one being

that this new location is directly off the main freeway that runs through Prather and Auberry.

The location also shares a parking with the local food vendor Mar-Val which would make

utilizing WIC benefits more convenient for WIC participants.

The Prather WIC Program has a proposed budget of $480,000 with a caseload of 3,000

participants. The Prather WIC Program will hire 2 full time RDs and 6.4 WNAs and will be in a

4,416 square foot building.

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 Description of the Business and Business Concept

WIC serves approximately 1.3 million pregnant and post-partum women, infants, and

children in California. WIC has been found to be a cost-effective investment that improves the

nutrition of low-income families leading to healthier infants, more nutritious diets for children,

and consequently to high academic achievement for students. As a result of the research

documenting WIC's effectiveness, the US government has provided sufficient funding since

1997 to ensure that WIC can serve all eligible low-income pregnant women, infants, and young

children who apply for it (About WIC).

In California, the WIC Program is administered by the California Department of Public

Health/WIC Division. The CDPH/WIC Division works collaboratively with 83 local agencies, with

more than 500 sites, and over 4,000 authorized vendors (About WIC).

To qualify for WIC, you must meet income guidelines and be a pregnant woman, a woman

breastfeeding a baby under 1 year of age, a woman who had a baby or was pregnant in the past

6 months, a baby up to his or her first birthday, or a child up to his or her fifth birthday.

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 Opportunity and Strategy

As of 2020, there is no WIC program in the Auberry/Prather/Tollhouse community. The

closest WIC office is in Clovis, CA which is approximately 30 miles away from Prather. This new

WIC Program would be directly off of Highway 168 (refer to Figure 1) and is less than a mile

from the local elementary school. There is only one bus service that takes

Auberry/Prather/Tollhouse residents into the Fresno/Clovis area. According to the Fresno

County Rural Transit Agency website, “Auberry Transit provides transit service between the

foothill communities and the Big Sandy and Cold Springs Rancherias, Monday through Friday

from 8 am to 2:30 pm. Inter-city service to the Fresno-Clovis area is available Tuesdays from 8

am to 5 pm and requires 24-hour advance reservation.”(Refer to Figures 2 and 3). This makes it

very difficult for families who use public transportation to access the WIC services in Clovis. This

new WIC Program will better improve access, availability, and the delivery of WIC services to

the families that live in this area and to families that do not have reliable forms of

transportation.

The Prather WIC Program would benefit the residents because on the convenience of a

closer site and would also benefit the economy of this community as well. The WIC vouchers

would be redeemed at the local food vendor Mar-Val, and with increased voucher use Mar-Val

would likely need to hire more staff and this would in turn create more jobs for the community.

The Prather WIC Program would also create new jobs by hiring and training local residents to

work at the new clinic.

Possible growth and expansion plans include renting the adjoining building to enlarge

the WIC office as participation rates grow and a larger office is needed.
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 The Target Market and Projection

As of 2010 the Auberry/Prather/Tollhouse community is home to approximately 7,000

residents with outlying communities surrounding this area (refer to Figures 4, 5, and 6). The

average ethnicity statistics between the three communities is 80% Non-Hispanic White, 14%

Hispanic, 5% Native American, with 1% Black, Asian, or mixed race. With the 2010 national

average of Native American residents being 0.7%, this community has a higher than average

Native American population (US Census Bureau). This is important to note because the Native

Americans and Alaska Native people have long experienced lower health status when

compared with other Americans due to inadequate education, disproportionate poverty, and

discrimination in the delivery of health services (Indian Health Services). Due to these factors,

Native Americans may have a greater need for a program like WIC.

The average gross annual income in Auberry is approximately $40,400 which nearly half

the average gross annual California income of $75,277 (About Auberry). This is significant

because it shows that the average income in the community is lower than average and that

there is a greater need for WIC services in this area.

In this community, the average high school dropout rate is at approximately 6.4%. 92%

of the population has at least a high school degree and 14.5% have a bachelors degree or better

which is significantly lower than the California average of 32% (refer to Figure 7). This figure

shows that this community has a lower than average education level compare to the rest of the

California which implies that residents are on average working lower income jobs.

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 On average, 14% of the residents in this community are single with children (Refer to

Figures 4, 5, and 6). About 6% of the residents in Auberry are ages 0-4 years old (Refer to Figure

4). With approximately a thousand single parents and about 400 children under the age of 5,

statistics show there is a larger number of potentially eligible residents residing in the

Auberry/Prather/Tollhouse community.

In 2016, there were 15,129 live births in Fresno County. The birth rate in Fresno County

in 2016 was 74.4 per 1,000 women ages 15-44. Of all live births in Fresno County during 2014

through 2016, 60.2% were Hispanic, 20.7% were white, 5.4% were black, 0.7% were Native

American/Native Alaskan and 12.2% were Asian/Pacific Islander (March of Dimes).

Approximately 50% of residence in this community are female between the ages of 15-44 (refer

to Figure 4). Applying the Fresno County birth rate with approximately 3,500 women in this age

range; there are potentially 260 births a year in this community. This shows a great need for

pregnancy, post-partum, and breastfeeding services to the women that live in this area.

Foothill Elementary School is the only elementary school in the community. It has

approximately 650 students. 45% of the students are eligible for free lunch, and 7% qualify for

reduced lunch (Foothill Elementary School Profile ). With more than half the students qualifying for

free or reduced lunch, evidence of low-income families living in this community is evident

making the need for a local WIC program more established.

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 Competitive Advantages

One major barrier of entry for WIC participants in this area is the need for

transportation to the nearest WIC office as this community lacks reliable and consistent public

transportation. This new location has a competitive advantage in that it will be the only WIC

Program within 30 miles providing direct services to the Auberry/Prather/Tollhouse community

and is situated in a convenient location for most residents. The residents already on the WIC

program will likely transfer from their current offices in Fresno or Clovis to the Prather WIC

Program because they desire a closer location. Another competitive advantage is that other

residents in the community who qualify for WIC will be more likely to enroll onto the program

because there is a more convenient location.

Another competitive advantage is that the Prather WIC Program is directly off of

Highway 168 which is the main highway that runs through the community (refer to Figure 1).

The Prather WIC Program also shares a parking with the local food vendor Mar-Val. This would

make utilizing WIC benefits more convenient for the WIC participants. The Prather WIC

Program is also located 0.8 miles from Foothill Elementary school which means families in this

community could easily walk to the WIC Program from the elementary school.

One major barrier to entry is that many participants feel embarrassed to be on WIC and

it is obvious they are when they redeem their vouchers at the grocery store. However, in March

2020 Fresno County will transition to the WIC card which will make redeeming WIC benefits

more convenient and subtle for WIC participants to access their benefits and essentially

eliminate this barrier to entry.

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 Economics

The total budget for the WIC Program will be $480,000 (refer to Figure 8). The grand

total for salaries and benefits for the 9 employees will be $369,301.80. Hourly pay rates are

included in Figure 8. Operating Expenses including rent, utilities, communications,

maintenance, and supplies for the 4,416 square foot building with a 3,000 participant caseload

will total $59,734.50. Indirect costs will total $50,963.70. The total budget equals to $480,000.

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 Floor Plan

The Prather WIC Program will be in a 4,416 square foot building (refer to Figure 9) at

29406 Auberry Rd, Prather, CA 93651. The front of office will include a reception area and a

lobby with a participant bathroom. There will be a wall with two double doors that lead to the

back of the office. This back area will include 2 measuring rooms, 6 WNA cubicles for direct

counseling, 1 RD office, 1 RD Director office, a classroom, a breastfeeding room, an employee

breakroom featuring an employee bathroom, a storage room, and a utility room. The center of

the work stations will include a lounge/play area for the participants and children. Telephones

and data lines will be at each work station with electrical outlets available throughout the office

in convenient locations.

Team

The Prather WIC Program will staff 1 full-time RD and 1 full-time RD Director. This will

create a 1:1,500 Staff-to-Caseload ratio which meets the recommended Participant-to-RD ratio

(refer to Figure 10).

The Prather WIC Program will staff 6.4 full-time WNA I. This will create a 1:469 Staff-to-

Caseload ratio which meets the recommended Participant-to-Non RD ratio (refer to Figure 10).

The full-time staff will work from 9 am to 5:30 pm with a 30 minute lunch break Monday

through Friday totaling a 40 hour work week. The one part-time WNA will work a 4 hour shift

on Monday and Tuesday and one 8 hour shift on Friday totaling a 16 hour work week.

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 Appendix

Figure 1

Figure 2

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Figure 3

Figure 4

censusviewer.com/city/CA/Auberry

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Figure 5 Figure 6

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www.bestplaces.net/people/zip-code/california/prather/93651 www.bestplaces.net/people/zip-code/california/tollhouse/93667
Figure 7

worldpopulationreview.com/us-cities/auberry-ca-population/

Figure 8

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Figure 9

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Figure 10

References

16
 “About WIC.” About WIC, 27 Dec. 2018,

www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CFH/DWICSN/Pages/AboutWIC.aspx.

 “Auberry , California.” Livability, 2 Feb. 2017, livability.com/ca/auberry.

 “Auberry, California Population 2020.” Auberry, California Population 2020

(Demographics, Maps, Graphs), 2018, worldpopulationreview.com/us-cities/auberry-ca-

population/.

 “Auberry, California Population: Census 2010 and 2000 Interactive Map, Demographics,

Statistics, Quick Facts.” CensusViewer, 2019, censusviewer.com/city/CA/Auberry.

 “Foothill Elementary School Profile (2020): Prather, CA.” Public School Review, 2020,

www.publicschoolreview.com/foothill-elementary-school-profile/93651.

 “Fresno County.” Peristats | March of Dimes, 2020,

www.marchofdimes.org/peristats/ViewTopic.aspx?dv=lt®=06019&top=2&lev=0&slev=6.

 “Route Services.” Route Services - FCRTA, 2020, www.ruraltransit.org/route-services/.

 “U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: United States.” Census Bureau QuickFacts, 1 July 2018,

www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/US/PST045218.

 “Zip 93651 (Prather, CA).” BestPlaces, 2020, www.bestplaces.net/people/zip-

code/california/prather/93651.

 “Zip 93667 (Tollhouse, CA).” BestPlaces, 2020, www.bestplaces.net/people/zip-

code/california/tollhouse/93667.

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