 May 7th is Child Nutrition Hero Day. This day is normally one where we recognize the hardworking individuals whose contributions help nourish children across our state.
You've Gone the Extra Mile
This year, we want to recognize the innovative and empathetic response that child nutrition professionals gave during the COVID-19 pandemic.
As a part of Public Service Recognition Week, Child Nutrition providers across Washington State, as well as OSPI’s Child Nutrition team, are being recognized for their work in feeding children during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Governor Inslee has chosen this group of people for the Extra Mile award, to honor the public servants who went above and beyond to feed children this year.
A Well-Deserved Award
When Governor Inslee announced statewide school closures, the OSPI Child Nutrition Services (CNS) team took immediate steps to work with program operators to plan to serve meals in their respective communities.
Your heroic efforts resulted in over 20 million meals that were served to kids in the first six months of the pandemic. School staff, child care employees, and community organizations collaborated as the need for meals rose across the state. Meals were distributed not only from school buildings, but also community parks, bus stops, and in some cases, delivered directly to homes by food service staff.
Program operators continually revised their operations to meet the needs of families while continuing to provide safe meals that maintained program integrity. CNS staff acted as liaisons between program operators and the USDA to advocate for the changing dynamics communities were facing and advocated for waivers and flexibilities to allow programs to better serve children.
Thank You
OSPI would like to thank the child nutrition heroes who persisted against many challenges during the pandemic. You have been the rock in every community you serve and we celebrate your heroism during this past year. Congratulations!
“Accountability in CACFP- you get a review, you get a review, everyone gets a review!”
Ever wonder why OSPI comes out to review your operations and how it fits in with the grand scheme of CACFP? Does OSPI ever get reviewed? What is “program integrity” anyway?
The Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) is a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) federal nutrition program. The CACFP aims to increase food security and reduce hunger among low-income families. Additionally, the CACFP supports the wellness, healthy growth, and development of young children and adults through reimbursements for nutritious meals and snacks served to eligible participants.
Program integrity is the term used for ensuring that this mission is upheld through all levels of operations.
The review process upholds program integrity by having a system of checks and balances at all levels of program operations. Sites, sponsors, OSPI, and even USDA all have requirements to uphold to administer the CACFP. All CACFP administrating organizations are reviewed to ensure they’re compliant with rules. Sponsors review their sites to ensure all requirements are met, OSPI reviews sponsors, and USDA reviews OSPI!
Serving healthy, nutritious meals is central to CACFP, but the rest of the program requirements are just as important to ensure that the business behind the meals is managing the program according to ethical practices (please see the 3/1 CACFP Hot Topic: Ethics in CACFP article for more details).
Next time you’re organizing records for OSPI, you can smile knowing the meaning behind the review.
Who Must Attend Annual Training?
- All institutions participating in the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP).
- All institutions planning to participate in the CACFP in FY 21–22.
- At a minimum, the person responsible for oversight of the CACFP must attend. This training is intended for directors and administrators.
Register Now!
-
FY21-22 CACFP Annual Updates Webinar for Child Care, At-Risk (community sponsors), and Family Day Care Home Sponsors
-
FY21-22 CACFP Annual Updates for Adult Care Center Sponsors - This recorded session will be available on our CACFP Adult Care Annual Training Moodle by July 15, 2021.
FY21-22 Training Requirements
This year has three components, all CACFP sponsors must certify completion of all training requirements when submitting their Washington Integrated Nutrition System (WINS) sponsor application. Training requirements include:
- The FY21-22 CACFP Annual Updates Webinar - Join us as we discuss the past year, renewal updates, and looking ahead to FY 2022.
-
Annual Civil Rights Training - This session will review the basic requirements of Civil Rights requirements when operating the CACFP. This is a recorded session— more details to come.
-
Ounce Equivalents Training - You may have read a previous update on what Ounce Equivalents are and how to start implementing them in your programs. Join us for a live training session— more details to come!
Will STARS Credits be Available for These Trainings?
The Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) has specific requirements for which trainings can offer STARS credits. We are looking into which trainings meet these requirements. We will share more details in upcoming CACFP Newsletters.
Questions? Please contact your OSPI CNS Program Specialist.
The Farm to ECE Community of Practice is a network of farmers, providers, programs and others interested in learning about farm to ECE in Washington State.
Register Here
Date: April 27, 2021
Time: 3–4 pm PT
Join the Farm to ECE Community of Practice call to hear Chris Iberle, WSDA Farm to School Lead, share how early learning programs can connect with farms in their area that are interested in working with child care to supply local foods, or be a part of education. Chris will also talk about new tools being developed to connect programs with farmers and ask for your feedback.
To learn more, please visit the Washington State Farm to School Network webpage.
Lunch n’ Learn webinars are short, concise, “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!
Infant Meal Updates
Do you serve infants in your centers? During this session we will discuss what documents are required for infant meals and important reminders!
Register Here
Date: Tuesday, April 27
Time: 1:30–2:00 pm PT
During this webinar we will discuss:
- Combination Store Bought Baby Food
- Ounce Equivalents for Infants
- Upcoming Infant Trainings
- Questions and Answers
Upcoming Office Hours
Office hours are a time for informal question and answer sessions. Join us for a discussion on the infant meal pattern, infant meal records, combination baby food follow up, and ounce equivalents.
Join Live Here!
Date: Monday, May 24
Time: 2–4 pm PT
Please come with questions or items you would like to discuss related to infant meals.
Child Nutrition Services (CNS) invited the Institute of Child Nutrition (ICN) to conduct several FREE trainings over the coming year. These sessions can be attended by any food services staff, and they offer Professional Standards.
There is a limit of 2 participants from each center per training. We will be offering sessions more than once so there will be more opportunities to attend later in the year.
Trainings
-
Infant Meal Pattern Requirements - This training reviews requirements for serving infants in the CACFP, including: changes to the updated infant meal pattern charts and requirements for serving breastmilk and infant formula, strategies that support infants and their developmental readiness for solid foods, and requirements for serving more nutritious solid foods to infants.
Sign-Up Here for the May 4 class
Sign-Up Here for the May 6 class
Time: 12–4 pm PT
Registration Information
Participants register for the training using the pdEnroller platform.
-
Each participant must have their own pdEnroller account to sign up for the training if you do not have one currently. You may use this link to create an account, if needed.
- Make sure to edit your profile to include your STARS ID to make getting your STARS credits easier!
- Keep your confirmation email!
- This email is your portal to the training session and additional handouts for the training.
- Pro Tip: You can add events to your calendar via the event page, this way your Zoom access link is available from your calendar.
-
Can't Attend?
- Log into your account.
- Select your name in the upper right hand corner.
- Click on 'My Events'.
- Upcoming events appear at the top of your screen, you should see the class and a 'Cancel Registration' button.
- You can cancel your registration at any time using pdEnroller.
- Waitlist Participants:
- PdEnroller notifies CNS of the number of interested participants and automatically creates a waitlist when the session is filled.
- If someone cancels their attendance, pdEnroller automatically notifies the next person on the waitlist and gives them an opportunity to register - keep an eye out in your emails.
IMPORTANT:
- The ICN requires a minimum of 15 registrants per session to conduct the training. If there are not a minimum of 15 registrants, the training will be canceled.
- There is a limit of 25 participants for each session.
Have Questions? Please email Samantha Brueske, Training and Communications Specialist.
|
From time to time, users have noticed the Washington Integrated Nutrition System (WINS) is slow to advance to a new page or certain functions don’t work well when using Internet Explorer. To stay up to date and continuously improve user experience, Internet Explorer is no longer the recommended browser for accessing WINS.
For the best experience with WINS, we recommend to use Google Chrome, Firefox, or other updated browsers.
CACFP specialists are hosting office hours in the coming months. These meetings may be conducted as facilitated discussions highlighting several topic areas, or as a platform for Questions & Answers and open dialogue.
Office hours are meant to be a safe space to learn more about CACFP operations from discussion topics or from the questions other sponsors bring forward. You are welcome to bring your questions or just plan to listen in.
Register to attend an upcoming session!
- Jeannette Green – Open Q and A
April 20, 1:00–2:00 pm
- Jessica Condron – Open Q and A
April 26, 10:00–11:00 pm
- Nicki Christoferson – Open Q and A
April 29, 2:30–3:30 pm
Per guidance given in CACFP 12-2013, SFSP 14-2013, sponsors that operate both SFSP and CACFP At-Risk Meals are not required to monitor their sites following the SFSP requirements during the summer, in addition to monitoring those same sites again following the CACFP requirements during the school year. Instead, these sponsors may follow the CACFP monitoring schedule year-round.
If sponsors choose to follow the CACFP monitoring schedule year-round, one of the three annual reviews must occur during the summer.
Review for SFSP requirements:
- Include the review of a meal service.
- Must be unannounced.
- One review must occur during the summer.
Review for CACFP requirements:
- At least one must include the review of a meal service.
- At least one must be unannounced.
- Two reviews must occur during the school year.
USDA approved Washington state’s CACFP Monitoring Waiver request and has granted flexibilities for Sponsoring Organizations.
If you opted in for the CACFP Statewide Monitoring Waiver and intend to follow the CACFP monitoring schedule year-round to include your SFSP operation:
- Only 2 monitoring visits are required (1 SFSP & 1 CACFP).
- Both the SFSP & CACFP visit must include the review of a meal service.
- CACFP & SFSP visits may be announced.
USDA granted Nationwide Waivers to allow for all Child Nutrition Program monitoring to be done off-site. Please review the resources below for waiver information, instructions on how to “opt in” for available CACFP waivers, and helpful resources for conducting monitoring visits remotely.
Waiver Information & Off-site Monitoring Resources:
Questions? Please contact your Program Specialist.
|
April 27
|
Lunch n' Learn: CACFP Lunch n’ Learn: Infant Meal Records
|
|
April 29
|
February Claim 60-day Deadline - if you haven't already, submit your claim!
|
|
June 23
|
FY21-22 CACFP Annual Updates Webinar for Child Care, At-Risk (Community), and Family Day Care Home Sponsors - Register Here!
|
|
July 15
|
FY21-22 CACFP Annual Updates for Adult Care Centers posted in Moodle
|
|
