CACFP Meal Service Training Grants

Brandon Lipps, USDA Acting Deputy Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services (FNCS) announced the availability of $5.4 million in training grants to help CACFP providers deliver high-quality meal service at the National Child Nutrition Conference in San Antonio, Texas in April. The grant funding will be utilized to assist State agencies in providing training for CACFP operators on ways to plan and prepare nutritious foods that contribute to the wellness, growth, and development of children, and the health and wellness of older adults and chronically impaired disabled persons.

Alphabets Preschool Center in Asbury Park, New Jersey is an excellent example of Farm to CACFP! Their chef sources local food, including local fish from the New Jersey shore and vegetables from their school garden. The New Jersey Department of Agriculture's Farm to School Program Coordinator has visited on several occasions and watched students tend the school garden, artfully located around the building. Not only are the vegetables used for school meals, the chef also incorporates them in taste tests for the students. The New Jersey Department of Agriculture hosted a Farm to School Summit on March 14 and featured the chef from Alphabets Preschool Center. Additionally, Alphabets Preschool Center hosted a MARO School Nutrition Program Director during a CACFP Week site visit, where the chef featured locally grown produce and fish in lettuce wraps.

CentroNia Child Care Center in Takoma Park, Maryland, has a strong commitment to food and wellness. For more than ten years, CentroNia Child Care Center has worked on an Eat Healthy, Live Healthy campaign, which is a holistic nutrition education program that seeks to engage and educate children, parents, teachers, and directors. The Food and Wellness Department at CentroNia consists of seven staff who cater to three child care centers. Their menus meet CACFP requirements and they also cook everything from scratch using the USDA’s standardized recipes. Thirty percent of the food they serve is from local farms, and at least one local food is served each day on their menu. They partner with several organizations such as the Wide Net Project for their fish, Lyon Bakery for their grains, and Kilmer’s Farm Market for their chicken and produce. They have seasonal menus and serve meals such as chicken stir fry, quinoa and barley, and garlic shrimp and chicken fajitas.

In addition to their meals, they offer nutrition education and wellness workshops for parents, staff, and community members. Breakfast in Jars and Salad in Jars are their most popular workshops. They also partner with other programs to enhance nutrition and physical activity, such as Yoga Pretzels and Mindful Kids workshops. CentroNia not only follows CACFP program requirements, but they are committed to continually improving the quality of their meals, nutrition education, and wellness activities for children and parents at the center.

Colonial School District, led by Nutrition Supervisor Paula Angelucci, joined the CACFP At-Risk Program in the 2015 – 2016 school year. At the start of the program, they served meals to 12 sites in district schools. Now they serve meals at 15 locations, which include some community sites. Colonial School District is committed to ensuring that children have access to nutritious meals during the school day, after school, and during the summer months. In the 2016 – 2017 school year, they served over 54,000 At-Risk meals! In 2015, Paula and her team received a Farm to School grant which allowed them to hire a Farm Manager and work in collaboration with a historic farm located on the grounds of William Penn High School. The crops that are harvested from the farm are used in all of the meals they produce, including the CACFP At-Risk meals.

Beginnings and Beyond has two locations in Dover, Delaware. Their commitment to providing homemade, nutritious meals to children is supported by their efforts to include nutrition education and farm to CACFP in their program. Each month, they conduct a “Food Exploration,” in which they select a local fruit or vegetable, and teach children about its different forms, how it's grown, harvested, and eaten. They prepare a recipe for the children to taste test and they also send home a certificate to inform families about what their children learned. The center has received positive feedback and has learned the children ask for the local food items they tried at school, at home. The center’s owner, Danielle, shares,“We are hosting a Lil Chef’s Parent-Child Event Night where the parents can come and cook with their children. We will have resources and teaching materials for parents to learn about healthy choices for their children, the benefits of sit down meals, and learning about homemade baby food purees.”

In addition to “Food Exploration” and Lil Chef’s Parent-Child Event Night, Beginnings and Beyond have raised garden beds at one of their locations where children are involved in the planting and harvesting of the garden. The harvested food is used in recipes for their menus, taste tests, and to share with families.