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Ethics play a major role in public funding. As an approved sponsor of the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP), you are reimbursed through OSPI with funds from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Receiving public funds means you are responsible to follow ethical business and purchasing practices set by CACFP regulations.
What can You do to be Compliant?
- Stay up to date
- Conduct regular ethics training reviewing the importance of ethical practices.
- Review CNS Weekly Newsletters for updates and important reminders
- Review your organization’s code of conduct policy annually to help to avoid ethics-related problems.
- Have continued dialogue with employees and reflect on the values of the policy.
Ethics in Your Business Practices
We refer to them as Financial VCA’s (Viability, Capability, & Accountability). Staying compliant with VCA requirements let’s us know that you are managing your program according to ethical practices. Information is collected during your initial application, renewal, and during administrative reviews or audits.7 CFR 226.6(b)(1)(xvii)
Standard One: Financial Viability
- Demonstrate adequate financial resource to operate and pay employees and suppliers without CACFP funds.
- Pay debts when CACFP fiscal claims are assessed.
- Ensure CACFP costs are necessary, reasonable, allowable.
Standard Two: Administrative Capability
- Enough qualified staff to properly operate CACFP.
- Meet ratios for multi-site monitoring (if applicable).
- Create program policies and procedures to assign responsibilities and duties.
Standard Three: Program Accountability
- Identify individuals to oversee and manage program compliance. Including: accurate claims, and the safeguarding of proper use of CACFP funds.
- Adequate record keeping, monitoring and training to verify compliance.
- Meet all operation and meal service requirements.
Ethics in Purchasing (Procurement)
To ensure materials and services are obtained efficiently and economically, sponsors must follow proper ethics when making purchases. This includes supplies, food, equipment and other services with program funds. 7 CFR 226.22 [7 CFR 226.6(j)].
The CNS Procurement webpage has valuable resources such as:
- Procurement Vocab Reference Sheet
- Code of Conduct Reference Sheet
- Procurement Procedure Plan Reference Sheet
Questions? Please reach out to your OSPI CNS Program Specialist.
CACFP Week is March 14-20! OSPI Child Nutrition encourages you to get the word out about your program!
What You Can Do
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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!
- Use the Community Outreach Flyer.
- Send the Certificate of Awesomeness to your staff.
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Review the National CACFP Week webpage - there you will discover tools for your community, ways to spread awareness for your programs, and so much more!
- Distribute tools and resources at your organization
- Send information out in your newsletters, posts to social media, and get the word out early.
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Centers, providers, and afterschool teams? Share with your parents and children.
Discover more about National CACFP Week here!
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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 – 2:00pm 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
In honor of National CACFP Week, March 14–20, 2021 — we are highlighting programs that went above and beyond this year. Join us in celebrating your peers for their extraordinary work in various areas of the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP).
Boys and Girls Club of the Olympic Peninsula
When the COVID-19 pandemic struck and schools began to shut down, the Boys and Girls Club (BGC) of the Olympic Peninsula stepped up and filled that space with a safe program for kids. They went from operating 4 hours a day to 10 hours a day.
The BGC of the Olympic Peninsula utilized the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) to meet the increased nutritional needs of school-age children. With increased options due to USDA waivers, they provided breakfast and Lunch to both the club and eligible community participants. Additionally, they operated their regular At-Risk Afterschool Meals Program which provided snacks and suppers to children in care.
“Serving nutritious, ready-to-eat meals has made a difference for many of the participants in our program. We take great pride in providing healthy, nutritious meals to boost the minds and immune systems of children, while providing a safe place for them to participate in educational and enrichment activities.”
Mary Budke, Chief Executive Officer
Thank You!
Thank you for adapting and rising to the challenge to meet the needs of the children in your community. We appreciate all your hard work!
St. Anne's Children and Family Center – A Focus on Scratch Foods
Serving local and fresh foods is important to St. Anne's Children and Family Center. Partnering with LINC Foods, a worker and farmer owned food hub based in Spokane, WA, their weekly menu is 95% scratch-made!
Fresh fruit and vegetables are served at least twice a day and whole grain products are served two to three times a day. And the granola served is made specifically for St. Anne's! It is made with local ingredients, contains less sugar, and is allergen free.
“… Meals are often served to highlight different cultures. For example, during winter holidays we include Hanukkah dishes and during the spring we serve Lent friendly meals on Fridays. It is important for children to experience different world cultures through food. Monthly, we have been coordinating a snack or a lunch with the classroom curriculum. Children get very excited to be involved with making their own meals and this excitement is contagious! We have been awarded OSPI Gold Awards in Innovative Menus, Nutrition Education, and Farm to Program.”
Jasyn Bourne, Family Service Coordinator
Thank You!
Thank you for serving scratch-made meals to the children you serve! We appreciate your extraordinary efforts to serve local foods.
This month’s Curriculum Corner features two “Institute of Child Nutrition” resources to enhance your current CACFP menu.
The 2021 Mealtime Memos (MTM) is a blog-style electronic newsletter that is released monthly and highlights new topics in each edition.
What can you expect?
- Monthly and Daily Food Themes helps create appealing and nutritious menus
- What’s in Season offers useful information about in-season produce
- Food Facts for Kids provides fun and interesting facts to share
- Sneak Peak highlights the upcoming themes and topics
Subscribe at: https://theicn.org/memo
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The “Is My Recipe Whole Grain-Rich in the CACFP?” worksheet helps you determine if the recipes you use meet the whole grain-rich CACFP requirements.
This four-page training worksheet is available to download and print or it is available to order in packs of 25 copies.
Order it in English or Spanish
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March 1
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December Claim 60-day Deadline - if you haven't already, submit your December Claims!
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March 15
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February Claims Due in WINS
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