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Child and Adult Care Food  Program (CACFP)

2024 - 03

Alaska Department of Education and Early Development
Division of Finance and Support Services
Child Nutrition Programs
P.O. Box 110500
Juneau, AK 99811

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USDA Policy, Information, and Implementation Memos

Sponsoring organizations and institutions are required by regulation to keep Bulletins, Instructions, and USDA Policy Memorandums for reference and to apply immediately the appropriate instruction to agency programs. Please call Child Nutrition Programs if you need further clarification.

Please continue to monitor the CNPWeb for any policy memos, additional information, or program guidance at the Child Nutrition Programs website.

Additional Topics

Preparing for CACFP Reviews

DEED is working with CN Resources to conduct federally-required CACFP reviews.

Early this month, we sent sponsors a Preparing for Your Review document, which outlines the materials that you should have available on the day of review. During the review, we will also ask for backup documentation for one or more claim months. Please take the time to make sure that your records are in order so that you will have no problem accessing this information for us when we arrive.

Sponsors that are receiving their annual CACFP review this year are urged to check in with their Food Program Contact to help prepare for the review. If you have any questions regarding the review, please contact Chris Mariano at chris.mariano@alaska.gov.

Webinars

Heartful Choices: Keeping Children Healthy Webinar

February is American Heart Month. The National CACFP Sponsors Association (NCA) is hosting a webinar that focuses on tips to make recipes heart healthy and provides opportunities to learn fun ideas on how to keep children active.

The webinar will be on January 25, Thursday, 10:00-10:30 am Alaska (2:00-2:30 pm EST). Registration closes on the morning of the event.

Surveys

The Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health is conducting a nationwide survey of CACFP sponsors and providers. Their goal is to collect recommendations for policymakers on CACFP based on sponsors' and providers' experiences. Interested individuals can take the 15-minute survey here, but please note that this survey is entirely optional and is not affiliated with the USDA.

Resources

March 10-16, 2024 is CACFP Week

It's not too early to start planning for CACFP Week! This is a national educational and information campaign that's sponsored annually by the National CACFP Sponsors Association (NCA) to raise awareness of how CACFP works to combat hunger. You can participate by sharing the news with your parents and children. NCA has promotional flyers, activity pages, and more available for download in both English and Spanish.

If you are interested in participating in CACFP Week, you can register on the event calendar to receive an exclusive sample menu. This year's theme is eating the rainbow, with a sample menu that focuses on a different color of the rainbow for each day of the week.

You can also register for a free webinar on CACFP Week on February 8, Thursday, 10:00-10:30 am Alaska (2:00-2:30 pm EST). 2024 CACFP Week At-a-Glance is designed to help you celebrate and raise awareness within your network during this week-long campaign.

Please note that registering for this webinar is different from registering to participate in CACFP Week.

ICN Mealtime Memo: Identifying Whole Grain-Rich Foods

Check out ICN for CACFP: January 2024 Mealtime Memo, which is focused on identifying whole grain foods. This comprehensive one-page resource will help you use the food package to determine which foods are whole grain-rich (WGR) and how to avoid the pitfalls of confusing terms and phrases. It even contains menu ideas with WGR options.

New CNP Team Member

We're happy to announce that Shari Taylor has joined the Child Nutrition Programs team as the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) Specialist. Shari comes with a background in Family Nutrition Programs and she will be providing support to CACFP as well. Her contact information can be found at the bottom of this page. Welcome, Shari!

Team Nutrition Resources

• CACFP Meal Pattern Training Tools
  • CACFP Meal Pattern Training Worksheets
  • CACFP Grains Oz Eq Resources
• Crediting Handbook for the Child and Adult Care Food Program
• Food Buying Guide for Child Nutrition Programs
• CACFP Halftime: Thirty on Thursdays Training Webinar Series
• Team Nutrition Homepage

Contact Us

• Program Manager
  

  • Gavin Northey (907) 465-8708

• Program Coordinator (USDA Foods, TEFAP, FFVP)

  • Sue Lampert: (907) 465-8710

• Program Coordinator (School Meals)
  

  • Tonia Parfitt: (907) 465-1080

• Program Coordinator (CACFP)

  • Chris Mariano: (907) 465-4788

• Grants Administrator

  • Carole Baker: (907) 465-2860

• Program Specialist (SFSP)

  •  Shari Taylor: (907) 465-8711

• Program Specialist (Farm-to-School)
  • Waverli Stowe  (907) 465-8719

• Education Program Associate II (Special Milk Program)
  • Debbie Soto: (907) 465-8712

• Education Program Assistant (USDA Foods, TEFAP)
  
  • Tony Warren: (907) 465-3629

• Education Program Assistant (CACFP & SFSP)
  
  • Jennifer Cherian: (907) 465-4969