Last week, we shared that USDA released policy memos that impacted CACFP operations. Since then, we have been made aware of a need for a correction.
-
COVID-19: Child Nutrition Response #27- Nationwide Waiver of Monitoring Requirements for Sponsors in the Child and Adult Care Food Program – EXTENSION through August 31, 2020 allows sponsors to:
- Conduct 2 facility reviews, instead of 3.
- Conduct 1 unannounced visit, instead of 2.
- Not observe a meal service.
- Have more than 6 months between reviews.
- Review new facilities as a desk review.
- Washington state will participate in this waiver.
- Sponsors must notify OSPI CNS if they intend to participate in this waiver. Please keep an eye out in the weekly updates for these instructions
- CORRECTION: This waiver has not been extended, but remains in effect until August 31, 2020.
-
COVID-19: Child Nutrition Response #39 - Nationwide Waiver of Onsite Monitoring Requirements for Sponsors in the Child and Adult Care Food Program allows sponsors to:
- Conduct reviews offsite
- Washington state will participate in this waiver.
- Sponsors must notify OSPI CNS if they intend to participate in this waiver.
- This waiver is effective immediately and remains in effect through September 30, 2021.
We apologize for any confusion this may have caused. If you have questions, please contact your OSPI program specialist.
Live Annual Training Webinar This Wednesday!
Annual training is required for continued participation in the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP). At a minimum, the person responsible for oversight of the CACFP must attend. This training is intended for directors and administrators. Monitors are encouraged to attend.
Child Care and Family Day Care Home Sponsors
Required Live Webinar
During this webinar we will cover USDA program updates, hot topics, Civil Rights, and more! There is a maximum of 2 registrants from each organization.
UPDATE: STARS credits will be offered to those who attend the LIVE session on 8/19/2020. Additionally those who watch the recorded Annual Training and register with their STARS ID are eligible for STARS credits until 9/30/2020. More details on how to watch recorded sessions will be released in an upcoming CNS newsletter.
Register Here Date: Wednesday, August 19, 2020 Time: 1 - 3 pm PT
This session will be recorded and posted to the CNS website after training has occurred.
We look forward to 'seeing' you there!
Supplemental Recorded Sessions
In addition to this live session, we will also be providing recorded sessions. These sessions are meant to enhance CACFP knowledge and are not part of the required training. More information about these recorded sessions will be released soon.
At-Risk Sponsors
Community Organization sponsors must attend the CACFP Childcare Annual Training. During this webinar we will cover USDA program updates, hot topics, Civil Rights, and more!
UPDATE: STARS credits will be offered to those who attended the LIVE session on 8/19/2020. Additionally those who watch the recorded Annual Training and register with their STARS ID are eligible for STARS credits until 9/30/2020.More details on how to watch recorded sessions will be released in an upcoming CNS newsletter.
Register Here Date: Wednesday, August 19, 2020 Time: 1 - 3 pm PT
School District At-Risk sponsors must attend a recorded training to meet Annual Training requirements. This recorded session is available on the NSLP Training webpage.
Adult Care Sponsors
Training for Adult Care Centers will be offered as a recorded online training. We will release the recording at a later time.
Please keep an eye out for future CNS Updates.
September 11, 2020, is the last date to apply for Pandemic EBT (P-EBT).
The Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction and the Department of Social and Health Services have teamed up to create a new program called Pandemic EBT, or P-EBT, for short. These benefits will help families most impacted by the COVID-19 crisis to continue to have access to nutritious meals.
P-EBT is available for students, including children of immigrant households, who were enrolled in a K-12 school that offered a school lunch program during the 2019-20 school year AND were eligible for free or reduced-price school meals; or attended a school where meals were free for all students.
There are two ways to apply:
- Online: www.WashingtonConnection.org (on the application, choose ‘Pandemic EBT — Emergency School Meals Program’ box in the Food Assistance section); or,
- Call: 877–501–2233 (DSHS Customer Service Contact Center — interpreter services are available)
Please use your social media to get the word out to the families you serve!
Additional information and translated documents are available on the OSPI Pandemic EBT Guidance for Schools webpage.
The goal of the CACFP At-Risk program is to provide children a meal and or snack outside of their school day while they are in a structured and adult-led environment that provides educational support and/or enrichment activities.
Who can apply for At-Risk Meals in the Fall of 2020?
- At-Risk sites providing meals to children on-site in addition to in-person programming/activities.
- Sites offering non-congregate meals to children may be eligible, however, there still must be regularly scheduled enrichment or educational activities provided in a structured environment.
- Offered activities may be through a regularly scheduled virtual skype call, a zoom group call, or by a phone call from staff.
- This must be in addition to what is being required for “remote learning” and counting as school instruction/school work.
- Activities must go above and beyond what is offered to the general student population and include contact with or outreach to the child.
- Grab-n-go meals with a sent-home packet of work are not allowed. Sending a packet of materials for the week for the student to work on independently is not sufficient.
- Strictly providing grab-n-go meals is not allowed.
- Staff must directly connect with the students to provide support, homework help, and/or offer enrichment opportunities extending beyond what is being offered as part of the school day.
Next Steps
You must complete the At-Risk Pre-Qualification Survey. This survey will help interested organizations determine if they are eligible to participate in the CACFP At-Risk program in the upcoming year.
Questions? Please email your program specialist.
There's Still Space Available!
Participants will explore the updates to the child and adult meal patterns, as well as tips and strategies for implementation. Each training session is 7-hours long, and will be spread out over 2 days for maximum effectiveness. Review this training overview for more details.
STARS Credits are available for this training - you must submit your STARS ID with your registration information and attend the full 7-hour training to receive credit.
This training is a supplemental training session that does not count toward Annual Training Requirements.
Join Us on August 22 | 8:00 am - 4:30 pm PT - Register Here!
You will automatically be added to the waitlist if the session becomes full.
New CACFP Resources in Spanish
Team Nutrition is pleased to announce the release of six new Spanish-language worksheets for Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) operators. These four-page worksheets are now available for download in English and Spanish from the Team Nutrition website at https://www.fns.usda.gov/tn/meal-pattern-training-worksheets-cacfp. Printed versions of these worksheets will be available at a later date.
- Using the Nutrition Facts Label in the CACFP
- Serving Vegetables in the CACFP
- Serving Snacks in the CACFP
- How to Spot Whole Grain-Rich Foods for the CACFP
- Using the WIC Food Lists to Identify Grains for the CACFP
- Is My Recipe Whole Grain-Rich in the CACFP?
Questions? Please email TeamNutrition@USDA.gov.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is working with state child nutrition agencies to provide safe and flexible meal service to children during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Recently, USDA released tip sheets with best practices:
We highly recommend reviewing these reference sheets for tips during the pandemic.
Have questions? Please contact your program specialist.
OSPI Child Nutrition Services is collaborating with Washington Department of Health and Washington State Department of Agriculture to provide a virtual training for early learning providers on Farm to Early Learning. Participants in this training will learn the ins and outs of planning and implementing Farm to Early Learning practices into their care settings. More details to come!
If you are interested in this training opportunity, we want to know what day works best for you for this six-hour (approximately) training.
Give us your input by completing this survey.
OSPI Child Nutrition Services has formed a Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity Team to assess our policies and procedures in Child Nutrition Services to identify any areas of racial or ethnic inequity. Following this investigatory process, we will develop and implement an action plan to address issues identified.
We invite Child Nutrition Program sponsoring organization administrators and operators and other organizations that support child nutrition and/or advocate for social justice to participate in a virtual focus group with us on August 25, 2020, from 2 – 4pm PT.
If you would like to participate, register here.
Can’t participate, but still want to provide input to this process? Complete this survey.
In the spring of 2020 during the initial pandemic outbreak, schools were required to close. This unexpected school closure allowed for the operation of the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) under the Emergency School Closure Guidelines. Operation of SFSP, along with multiple USDA nationwide waivers, allowed schools to provide meals to all children ages 0 to 18 years at all sites distributing meals.
For SY 2020-21, although the typical school day model may look significantly different, schools will be “open”. Therefore, USDA is requiring schools to operate School Meal Programs, which provides meals for enrolled students only. This will result in a change to meal access for children from birth to 5. Please consider this change and the needs of your families when planning for times when a center is not operating.
If you have questions, please reach out to your program specialist.
The Office of Food Safety and Institute of Child Nutrition recently completed a three-part webinar series on COVID-19 Food Safety. Webinar recordings and presentation materials are available online for a limited time at https://theicn.org/prevent
- The 2020 Safe Food Handler
- Managing Personnel During COVID-19
- Lessons Learned: The New Normal
August 19
|
Annual Updates Training for Child Care Centers, FDCH Sponsors, and At-Risk Sponsors - Register Here
|
September 15
|
August Claims Due in WINS
|
September 30
|
Renewal Due - Make sure to complete your Application, MDP, and Training Requirements!
|
|