From Inspiration to Impact: How One Leader is Nourishing Families at Blueprints
This article is part of a month-long series spotlighting the people behind Blueprints, a nonprofit organization working to eliminate poverty through impactful community programs in Washington County, Greene County, and parts of West Virginia. To learn more about Blueprints, go to .
Blueprints is a community action agency with a powerful mission: to break the cycle of poverty by empowering individuals and families with the tools and support they need to become self-sufficient and build better futures. Today we meet Chandra Dyne, Director of the Women, Infants, and Children Program at Blueprints.
Chandra Dyne was first inspired to work in the human services sector during a class at Penn State while she was working on her bachelor’s degree in Nutrition and Dietetics. The Community Nutrition class that she was taking as part of her program was holding a “Careers in the Classroom” day. One of the presenters was a WIC (Women, Infants, and Children) Nutritionist.
Intrigued by the Dietician’s presentation, Dyne started to do her own research on the importance of health and nutrition in pregnant women and infants. She was inspired to change her minor to Human Development and Family Studies after learning how impactful this time of growth and development is for children.
“During my last two years of college I learned everything I could about ways to help families, caregivers and children in impactful ways. My heart told me that helping pregnant women and young children was my calling,” says Dyne.
Prior to graduation, Dyne started searching for entry-level nutritionist positions within WIC. She heard about Blueprints (Community Action Southwest at the time) and was impressed by their diverse range of programming.
As the Director of WIC, Dyne implements the WIC program in Washington and Greene Counties. WIC is the USDA’s special supplemental nutrition program for women, infants, and children. The program provides extra support for families in the form of free healthy food, breastfeeding support, nutrition education and referrals to other services from pregnancy up until age five to those who qualify.
Each day of work is different for Dyne. She wears an array of hats in the organization, including breastfeeding coordinator, outreach coordinator, and even maintenance woman if the need arises.
“I will complete whatever is needed to ensure our participants are served and our staff have what they need to effectively perform their duties,” she says.
A big part of Dyne’s job is to collaborate with community organizations and healthcare providers to educate providers about the programming and services that Blueprints offers. Participation from these community partners is essential for program success.
“I attend outreach events, provide presentations, meet with community organizations and physicians to ensure the community knows WIC is here to help,” she says.
She is also the Director of Blueprints’ Consumer Family Satisfaction Team, where she oversees a vital service that assess the level of satisfaction with mental health and drug and alcohol services in Washington County.
In her role as Director of WIC, Dyne is always looking for new ways to meet the needs of women and children in the community. For example, years ago Blueprints recognized the need for diapers. Diapers are expensive and babies go through a lot of them. The solution was to partner with Pittsburgh Diaper Bank to fill this need through a pilot program. In 2024, Blueprints distributed over 140,000 diapers to 1,698 children in the community. Staff also identified a need for feminine hygiene products and were able to secure a temporary grant to distribute these products at their WIC offices.
“Although some of these smaller grants may be temporary, we are using these as a steppingstone to identify long-term solutions to the barriers our families often face,” says Dyne.
Dyne says that she would be happy to spend the rest of her career at Blueprints because she gets to make a difference in the lives of her community daily.
“I am proud to be a small part of the legacy that is Blueprints,” she says. Because of that chance meeting in a college classroom years ago, Dyne now returns to Penn State to present her job experience at “Careers in the Classroom”, hoping she will inspire the next generation of Dietitians.
Sponsored content brought to you by
Blueprints