I have been reading with great interest the discussion about WIC and their ability or lack of to support breastfeeding. I just finished reading the post about how supporting bf (in WIC) puts a strained on an already strained system. My project is one solution that has worked well in Tucson. I am a University of Arizona employee who received federal money to collaborate with WIC. After meeting with WIC in our County they asked that we work with them to increase bf durations. We are now in our third yr of the project and it has been highly successful (96% leave hosp bf and 44% are still bf 6 mos later). THe way we work is that the Univ employs two paraprofessional bf counselors. They conduct the classes on bf at two WIC clinics in our county. At these classes we enroll interested WIC clients in the Project. Enrolling means getting home and hospital visits to provide support and education during bf. We start with prenatal home visits and continue home and phone support until the client weans. The WIC staff has been very supportive of our project and work well with the bf counselors. They also have bf counselors but are overworked, don't do hospital and home visits, and many do not speak Spanish (A big number of WIC clients at these clinics are Spanish speaking only) The big catch with a project like this is that the funding is external (not WIC money) and I am now at the end of my funding. I'm in the process of contacting private foundations in hope of finding more money. So, I think partnership between universities (I am in Cooperative Extension which has a history of partnering with other community agencies) and WIC is one way to tackle this problem. The problem is finding the funding. My university recently decided to fund my position as Project Coordinator but I still must find funding for the bf counselors and operating costs. -Laura Laura Aldag, M.S.,R.D. Assistant in Extension "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed its the only thing that has" Margaret Mead