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Happy New Year!
Trivia:
Q. Which food-related “holiday” is recognized throughout the whole month of January in the United States?
A. (The answer is hidden in the content below)
Hint: This food does not have to be served hot.
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USDA POLICY MEMOS
Regulation requires sponsoring organizations and institutions 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 further clarification is needed.
NSLP & School Breakfast Program (SBP) Updates:
All Policy Memos from USDA are located here:
Updates & Reminders:
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January 31 - NSLP Roundtable Discussion @ 2:00 p.m.
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Claims - Submit claim data online through the CNP Web Database. Please submit the claim within the 30-Day Claim Submission Date:
- November Claim Month - Due January 29, 2024
- The final claim will not be accepted if it is not in the Pending Approval status by the 60-Day claim deadline (see below). Upward amended claims may be submitted throughout the 60-day period but no later than the 60-Day deadline. Be aware, claims in Error status cannot be paid and if help is needed from Child Nutrition the sponsor must contact Child Nutrition well in advance of the 60-Day Deadline.
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PrimeroEdge – Check your potential matches list monthly.
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Grant Opportunities
Rural School Food Systems Innovation Grants - APPLY – SCALES (projectscales.com)
Applications Open for Innovation and Partnership in Rural School Food Systems!
As part of the USDA’s Healthy Meals Incentives Initiative (HMI), funding and learning support is now available for a cohort of up to 35 rural school food authorities (SFAs) across the nation.
Project SCALES (Supporting Community Agriculture and Local Education Systems) will work with SFAs over a two-year period as they build partnerships for innovative solutions to increase local procurement in their school meal programs. The Center for School and Community Partnerships at Boise State University will provide a subgrant (up to $150,000) for each SFA, with technical assistance including a learning community provided by the experts at LunchAssist.
For more information, please visit our website at www.projectscales.com.
The online application portal is open and the deadline for submitting applications is 11:59 ET on January 26, 2024.
Is your SFA eligible to apply? These are the eligibility criteria:
- Rural school districts/SFAs (those with a locale code of 41, 42, or 43 according to the National Center for Education Statistics; click here to check their online tool).
- Participates in the National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program.
SFAs that provide meals for charter schools and groups of non-profit private schools are also eligible to apply. If you have questions about eligibility, please email us at info@projectscales.com.
On-Site Counting & Claiming
All on-site self-monitoring reviews must be completed within the first 4 months of operation for sponsors with more than 1 operating site. Summary report (only) due to DEED on/before February 15, 2024, via Smartsheet. NOTE: All breakfast programs must be reviewed every other year with at least 50% per year.
New procedures for submitting your on-site counting and claiming summaries.
We are streamlining the process to submit your on-site counting and claiming summaries.
What changed? The process to submit your review summaries for breakfast and lunch and the process for afterschool snacks has merged to a single easier process.
What has not changed? Due dates and the on-site counting and claiming forms remain the same.
You can find the instructions to submit your on-site counting and claiming summaries in the Document Checklist in CNPweb. Scroll to the “Additional Forms” section and look for the On-Site Counting and Claiming forms, including the instructions and bulk upload template. You will also find the review forms for NSLP/SBP and ASP at the top of this page.
Afterschool Snack Review
The first of 2 self-monitoring program reviews to be conducted within the first month of operation, and the 2nd review to be conducted before the end of the program year (or June 1st - whichever comes first) for the initial year.
However, after that, it’s just two times during the school year (July to June).
Review forms and summary report can be located on the CNP Web Checklist tab.
Verification
Verification was completed by November 15, 2023. Verification Collection Summary Report is due to DEED before February 1, 2024. If you need assistance, please feel free to contact Alaska Child Nutrition Programs.
If you need assistance performing verification in PrimeroEdge, contact customercare@primeroedge.com.
If you need assistance performing verification using another platform, contact your vendor’s customer service team.
P-EBT Update
All benefits have been issued.
If cards have been “lost” and in need of being replaced, please contact 1-800-478-7778.
Health and Social Services is also available at hss.dpa.offices@alaska.gov to assist with any other P-EBT related questions.
The Trivia Answer is: National Soup Month
AKSNA Conference
This is a courtesy posting on behalf of the Alaska School Nutrition Association, for any questions, please email conference@aksna.org
Registration for the Alaska School Nutrition Association’s 56th Annual Conference happening the 23rd – 25th of January 2024 in Anchorage, Alaska is now open. This year’s keynote speaker will be Dr. Katie Wilson, SNS, Urban School Food Alliance Executive Director and former USDA Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services. More information and registration are available at https://aksna.org.
In addition to the conference, AKSNA is hosting a preconference, “Designing and Delivering Training Programs”
Monday, January 22, 2024, 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. Registration required: https://aksna.org or email conference@AKSNA.org Develop or enhance your knowledge and skills to design and deliver effective trainings.
Alaska Food Protection Task Force 2024 Educational Workshop - January 22-23 8:30 - 12:30 Virtual
AFPTF 2024 Educational Workshop Registration (alaska.gov)
SFA Survey
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) is conducting a web survey of all school food authorities (SFAs) that operate Child Nutrition Programs and needs your input. The survey seeks to collect information on current key challenges SFAs are facing, including those related to school food procurement, program administration, and program finances.
FNS has contracted with Decision Information Resources, Inc. (DIR) to conduct the 2023-24 SFA Survey on Supply Chain Disruption and Student Participation with all public, charter, and private SFAs nationwide. Your participation is vital to providing FNS with information they need to support school districts during this time. Please take advantage of this opportunity to share your experiences from this school year and communicate the specific issues you are facing in your community directly to FNS.
On January 29, 2024, DIR will e-mail you a link to the survey. It will come from noreply@qemailserver.com. Please add this email address to your approved senders list so that you don’t miss the email. When completing the survey, you will provide information about your SFA for school year 2023-24. The survey has a maximum of 30 questions and is estimated to take up to 20 minutes to complete. Please complete it as soon as you are able, but no later than March 11, 2024.
If you have any questions about this survey, please contact the survey team at DIR toll-free at 844-632-9019 or e-mail SFASupplyChainSurvey@dir-online.com. For additional information, please review the “Frequently Asked Questions” document. You can also learn more about other ongoing FNS surveys and data collection on our “Current Data Collections” webpage.
Thank you in advance for your support of the 2023-24 Survey and your participation in this important effort.
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