Women, Infants and Children (WIC) Program

Summer Korponic has 23 years of WIC experience.  She obtained her Bachelors Degree in Dietetics from Central Michigan University.  She completed her internship with Oakland County Health Division and passed her Registered Dietitian Examination in 2002.  In 2008 she gained her certification as a Certified Lactation Specialist.  For the past 21 years she has been the Director of the ACC’s Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) Program, which provides supplemental foods, health care referrals, and nutrition education for low-income pregnant, breastfeeding, and non-breastfeeding postpartum women, and to infants and children up to age five who are found to be at nutritional risk.  Summer manages a team of 20 employees and serves approximately 8,500 clients each month.

Summer has been a valuable asset in a few WIC projects at the state level. In 2012 she was one of two local agency coordinators selected to be involved in the development of the Emergency MI WIC System.  The EMS system was developed to keep WIC clinics up and running in times of crisis.    In 2016 she was involved in a partnership with Altarum, Michigan Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), McMillen Health and Delta Dental Foundation in a partnership to implement a WIC-oral health pilot in urban Detroit.  Driven by this quick and early success, Delta Dental Foundation has funded an expansion of this pilot to an additional 16 clinics in Detroit, outer Wayne County, Kent County and Oakland County, while continuing to support the five clinics from the initial pilot year.

Summer has been instrumental in dozens of WIC partnerships at the local level.   In 2014 she collaborated with the University of Michigan School Of Public Health Dietetic Internship.  To date ACC has mentored 89 interns many of which have a career connection to ACC organization post internship.   In 2014 she was a key stakeholder in the Detroit Heath Department Lead Testing pilot program to offer clients age 1-5 years age a lead test at the WIC appointment. The program has 2500 children tested with 15% of them identified as having elevated lead levels.  In 2015 she initiated a partnership with University of Detroit Mercy’s Rx for Reading Program at all 6 ACC WIC offices to encourage literacy among ACC WIC client’s early readers.  To date ACC WIC offices have passed out 30,000 books to the community.

Summer has a passion for offering a high level of lactation support to WIC clients and allows her staff to grow professionally whenever she can.  She fully supports and encourages her staff to gain advanced lactation credentials such as the Certified Lactation Specialist, Certified Lactation Counselor, Certified Breastfeeding Counselor and even the gold standard International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC).  ACC WIC has provided the opportunity for 15 to complete advanced lactation certifications, 2 staff have obtained their IBCLC and 2 others currently working towards it.  Currently 55% of her WIC nutrition professionals have an advanced lactation certification.

Summer took a position with ACC as a one-year required commitment to fulfill an internship requirement in 2001.  She fell in love with the rewarding work the program does with young families and is still here 22 years later trying to improve the program and services offered daily to the community.   She feels blessed to work with some of the most passionate and caring human beings who have the desire to help each and every client have the resources they need to be successful in raising their family and work tirelessly to fulfill the needs of their clients daily.  ACC’s commitment to the community they serve can not go unnoticed.  The growth over the past 22 years has been and inspiration and something she will also take pride in.

Summer has a passion to travel with her family and loves spending time outdoors whether it be watching her children play the sports they love, hiking, biking, boating with her oldest 2 children skiing behind her father’s boat and has a special spot in her heart for beach adventures.