CACFP Week is March 14-20! OSPI Child Nutrition encourages you to get the word out about your program!
What You Can Do
- Children can join in the celebration during CACFP Week with activity sheets that combine fun, food program information, and nutrition themes. Share these with your providers, center staff, afterschool programs and parents!
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Review the National CACFP Week webpage- discover tools for your community, ways to spread awareness for your programs, and so much more!
- Use the Community Outreach Flyer.
- Send the Certificate of Awesomeness to your staff.
- Distribute tools and resources at your organization
- Send information out in your newsletters, posts to social media, and get the word out early.
Discover more about National CACFP Week here!
Share Your Celebrations!
How are you celebrating National CACFP Week? Share pictures and stories with us by emailing community.nutrition@k12.wa.us. Or tag us in social media posts by using #OSPIChildNutrition.
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The 2020-21 Washington Public School Data for Area Eligibility Report was recently removed from the website for update. The report has been reposted. Changes were made to school sites operating the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP).
About This Report
This report may be used to establish area eligibility for the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP), Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) and Seamless Summer Option (SSO). Area eligibility may be assigned if school data indicates that the proposed meal site is located in an attendance area of a public school where at least 50% of the children are eligible for free or reduced-price school meals.
The Area Eligibility in Child Nutrition Programs Reference Sheet provides more details on area eligibility.
Questions? Please contact your OSPI CNS Program Specialist.
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You may have noticed inaccurate information in the sponsor staff section of the Sponsor Profile in the Washington Integrated Nutrition System (WINS). Currently, deactivated staff appear and other staff names are duplicated with multiple different titles. This is a defect.
The WINS team has made changes to the sponsor contacts in preparation for the 2021–22 program renewal season. These changes will make it easier to update program contacts so that we may use WINS contacts for Child Nutrition Services communications in the future.
Until sponsor application is renewed for the 21–22 program year, the sponsor contacts section will continue to look the same. This is a known defect and we ask that you please disregard for the time being.
Information About This Update
- Later this spring, the edit feature will be removed from the sponsor home screen.
- WINS will not allow you to update or make changes to the existing sponsor staff contact information for the remainder of program year 20–21.
- You may add new staff contact information through revisions to the sponsor application as needed.
- You may choose to wait and make all staff contact updates in your 21–22 application.
- Child Nutrition Services will provide instructions prior to 21–22 program year renewal.
In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) has posted a notice in the Federal Register inviting the general public and other public agencies to comment on Agency Information Collection Activities: Team Nutrition Database.
This is a revision of a currently approved collection of information used to facilitate a communication network among organizations participating in the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) and schools participating in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and School Breakfast Program (SBP).
This communication network is implemented under the Team Nutrition initiative of the United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) FNS, Child Nutrition Programs.
Comments are invited on:
- Whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency
- Whether the information has practical utility
- Accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of the proposed collection of information
- Ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected
- Ways to minimize the burden of the collection of information on those who are to respond
Comments can be submitted through Regulations.gov and must be received on or before May 3, 2021.
Monthly claims are due by the 15th of each month following the claim period. All claims entered in WINS and in OK to Pay status will process for payment at the end of the month. Here are some important reminders about claiming in the Washington Integrated Nutrition System (WINS):
General Claiming Reminders
- Monthly claim data must be in "OK to Pay" status by 5:00 pm PT on the 15th.
- WINS will automatically log all users out of the system on the 15th of each month at EXACTLY 5pm PT.
- Ensure to give yourself enough time to input all claiming data so the claim is in “OK to Pay” status.
- Once WINS closes down the claiming option users are not allowed to input claim data until after the monthly claim reconciliation process is complete. This can take up to two business days.
- Didn't submit your claim by the 15th? That's okay! File your monthly claim by the 60-day deadline.
- Example: The February 60-day claim deadline is April 29, 2021.
- Claim reimbursements that are not entered into WINS or not in OK to pay status will NOT process for payment by the end of the month.
- The 20-21 Claim Processing Dates Information Sheet takes weekends and holidays into consideration for the 60-day deadlines. You may want to print or bookmark this information.
- Refer to the Claims Reference Sheet for details on what to do if you don't submit your claims by the 60-day claim deadline.
- Errors must be resolved for claims to be paid. WINS has multiple edit checks to help resolve issues before your claim is submitted.
- Review the Claiming Error Messages in WINS Information Sheet for more details on possible errors.
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Common Errors
- Total Attendance is entered with the claim and is the sum of children in attendance each day during the month. Meals claimed in excess of Total Attendance will result in a claim error.
- WINS edit checks the number of approved operating days for each site to the number of operating days entered in the site claim. If these numbers don’t match, the claim will go into error status.
- Pro-Tip: Always select “Preview Errors” at the bottom of each site claim once information is entered.
Claiming Resources
Have Questions? Please contact Hydie Kidd, Fiscal Supervisor, or Pam Fravel, Fiscal Analyst.
Lunch n’ Learn webinars are short, concise, high-level “power sessions” on specific CACFP-related topics. Most of the topics are based on sponsor suggestions and we will be presenting a different one each month through September!
Register Here
Date: Tuesday, March 30
Time: 1:30–2:00 pm PT
This webinar is intended for sponsoring organizations who are conducting monitoring visits remotely. The USDA granted Nationwide Waiver #39 to allow for monitoring visits to be conducted off-site. Washington state was granted an additional monitoring waiver for FY21 with further flexibilities.
During this webinar we will discuss:
- Flexibilities allowed in the monitoring waivers granted by USDA
- Planning for off-site monitoring visits (announced/unannounced)
- Conducting off-site monitoring visits
- Follow up and completing the off-site monitoring visit
- Questions & Answers
USDA’s Team Nutrition initiative will present Crediting Store-Bought Combination Baby Foods in the CACFP. This upcoming webinar will show CACFP operators how to identify store-bought combination baby foods that can be served as part of reimbursable meals or snacks to infants.
Date: Thursday, 3/18
Register for the English Webinar | 11:00–11:30 am PT
Register for the Spanish Webinar | 12:00–12:30 pm PT
Questions? Please email TeamNutrition@usda.gov.
Child Nutrition Services (CNS) invited the Institute of Child Nutrition (ICN) to conduct several FREE trainings over the coming year. These sessions can be attended by any food services staff, and they offer Professional Standards.
There is a limit of 2 participants from each center per training. We will be offering sessions more than once so there will be more opportunities to attend later in the year.
Trainings
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Foundations for Training Excellence: Basics - This training focuses on how to design and deliver effective training.
Sign-Up Here
Date: Tuesday, April 6
Time: 12–4 pm PT
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Training Culturally Diverse Groups - This training is designed to help you develop your skills to effectively deliver trainings to culturally diverse groups.
Sign-Up Here
Date: Thursday, April 8
Time: 12–4 pm PT
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Infant Meal Pattern Requirements - This training reviews requirements for serving infants in the CACFP.
Sign-Up Here for the May 4 class
Sign-Up Here for the May 6 class
Time: 12–4 pm PT
Registration Information
Participants register for the training using the pdEnroller platform.
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Each participant must have their own pdEnroller account to sign up for the training if you do not have one currently. You may use this link to create an account, if needed.
- Make sure to edit your profile to include your STARS ID to make getting your STARS credits easier!
- Keep your confirmation email!
- This email is your portal to the training session and additional handouts for the training.
- Pro Tip: You can add events to your calendar via the event page, this way your Zoom access link is available from your calendar.
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Can't Attend?
- You can cancel your registration at any time using pdEnroller.
- Log into your account.
- Select your name in the upper right hand corner.
- Click on 'My Events'.
- Upcoming events appear at the top of your screen, you should see the class and a 'Cancel Registration' button.
- Waitlist Participants:
- PdEnroller notifies CNS of the number of interested participants and automatically creates a waitlist when the session is filled.
- If someone cancels their attendance, pdEnroller automatically notifies the next person on the waitlist and gives them an opportunity to register - keep an eye out in your emails.
IMPORTANT:
There is a limit of 25 participants for each session. Each participant must have their own pdEnroller account to register.
Have Questions? Please email Samantha Brueske, Training and Communications Specialist.
Join farmers, local food suppliers, school and childcare staff, and partners at virtual meetings for these regions:
Are you interested in buying more food and ingredients from local farms for your meals? Come connect directly via Zoom with local farmers, food suppliers, and other nutrition staff in your region to help get more farm fresh foods to local students!
Hear from local farmers and food suppliers about products they’ll have available for schools, and how you can bring in their products for your meals. Share updates about your meal programs with farmers and community partners, how you’ve adapted meal and food distribution during COVID-19, and your current and future food and product needs.
If there isn’t a meeting happening for your region, please reach out to ciberle@agr.wa.gov to connect with farms or find out more about buying local foods, or visit the Washington Washington State Farm to School Network Regional Hubs to find out more about programs near you.
Questions? Email Chris Iberle, WSDA Farm to School Lead.
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Shout Out to the CCCC!
The CCCC operates in Pullman and Colfax with a capacity to serve 230 children. Their centers were impacted in March 2020 by COVID-19 and two centers closed regular programming and one remained open to serve children of emergency responders.
Communication During a Pandemic
They continued to maintain remote contact with families by sharing information regarding food banks, drive through food events, and updating families with information or changes on local school food pick-up times, locations, and food drop offs.
The CCCC staff continued to work with families to ensure that eligible families were receiving WIC and/or SNAP food benefits, while also utilizing their long-lasting relationship with Second Harvest to provide “bite-to-go” food bags to families in need.
In May of last year, the CCCC increased their hours and classroom size to include school aged children during school closures. In the fall, they continued to operate a full-day school aged program that met the needs of childcare and distance learning. Managing all the different virtual lesson times for each grade, mealtimes, “homework” or virtual assignments, etc. was quite a task for CCCC teachers. The children and staff did an excellent job.
Fresh Meals to Children
The CCCC often goes beyond the CACFP guidelines to ensure that children are being offered a variety of fresh food items, provided whole rich grain products more frequently than required by the program, use of cultural USDA recipes for meals and snacks, and incorporating parent feedback whenever possible.
Low enrollment and/or uncertain numbers on any day (illnesses) impacted the amount of fresh produce left-over. The CCCC was able to make menu adjustments and replicate some of the fresh foods during the week to continue providing fresh items to children instead of canned/non-perishable items. The CCCC also developed cycle menus; which accounts for fresh seasonal fruits and seasonally- appropriate meal items.
“I am glad to work for an agency that recognizes the importance of child nutrition and the correlation it has to early childhood education, learning, and emotional regulation."
- A CCCC Employee
Sample Menu
 Way to go CCCC!
Thank you for all you do to operate a successful Child Nutrition Program. Your dedication to the nutrition, health and wellness is recognized by the Community Nutrition Programs team in celebration of CACFP week.
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March 15
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February Claims Due in WINS
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March 30
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Lunch n' Learn: How to Conduct Remote Monitoring Visits
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April 1
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January Claim 60-day Deadline - if you haven't already, submit your January Claims!
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