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The State agency must be notified when centers experience closures of any length due to COVID or staffing shortages.
Site Calendars
Site calendar(s) must be updated to reflect the days your center was closed.
- If your center is closed two weeks or less:
- Add closure dates as Non-Operating Days
- If your center is closed longer than 2 weeks:
- Edit current calendar to end on the last day of operation
- Create a new calendar indicating the first day of operation after center closure has ended
Please notify your specialist to report center closures as they occur. As a reminder, you can always use the Find Your CACFP Specialist Map to find your specialist.
Join the Washington State Farm to ECE Community of Practice to learn how you can network and build lasting partnerships through the community of practice. We will also spend time discussing upcoming networking opportunities and events and gather your feedback on how to strengthen our community of practice's partnership building potential.
Register for the Farm to ECE Community of Practice Call
Date: Tuesday, January 25
Time: 3–4 pm PT
To support school nutrition, child care, and adult care professionals' efforts to connect children and adults with nutritious meals throughout the COVID-19 pandemic USDA Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) established nationwide waivers to allow program flexibility for School Year 2021–22 (SY 21–22) and Fiscal Year 2022 (FY22).
Allowances may be requested in circumstances where sponsors are experiencing food or labor shortages or altered facility operations due to COVID-19.
The CACFP Meal Distribution Plan (MDP) & Waiver Request Survey may be submitted for current program operation through September 30, 2022. Use this Checklist prior to beginning the survey. If you exit the survey before it is submitted, your progress will be lost.
The MDP Survey must be submitted to request the following flexibilities:
- Grab-and-Go Meal Service
- Off-site Monitoring
- Meal Pattern Flexibilities
More MDP Information
- Your MDP must be submitted and approved prior to utilizing available waivers granted by the USDA. Approval may be made retroactive in emergency circumstances when prior approval cannot be made.
- FNS expects schools and child care providers to use the flexibilities for only the duration and extent that they are needed.
- Waiver use will be approved on a case-by-case basis and only for a limited duration of time.
- Once you submit the MDP you will receive a confirmation email.
- Your program specialist will contact you regarding approval status of your organization's plan and waiver request(s).
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To request use of additional waivers or extensions for approved waivers, program operators should notify their program specialist and submit an additional MDP for approval.
Resources
Questions? Please contact your CACFP Specialist.
Interested in Sponsoring the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP)?
OSPI Child Nutrition Services is currently seeking sponsors for the 2022 USDA Summer Food Service Program (SFSP). The SFSP helps ensure children and teens living in low-income areas continue to receive nutritious meals during the summer, or during emergency school closures, when they do not have access to school meals.
Information about the program is outlined in a recent OSPI Medium Article, we encourage those who are interested to review the article and email our Summer Meals Team with any questions.
Who Can Sponsor the SFSP?
Public and private nonprofit schools, residential and non-residential summer camps, private nonprofit organizations, tribal organizations, and units of local, county, municipal, and state government, as well as colleges and universities participating in the Upward Bound Program who are willing to operate a non-profit meal program in areas where at least 50% of the children are qualified for free or reduced-price school meals are eligible to sponsor the program.
Community based organizations must be a registered business in the state of Washington with the Secretary of State and provide a year-round service to the community.
Additional Requirements
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Financial Viability Sponsors who are new to the SFSP, or did not participate in summer 2021 must be assessed for Viability, Capability and Accountability (VCA) prior to applying for the SFSP as a sponsor.
- Local Education Agencies (LEAs) are exempt from completing the VCA process.
- The VCA process can take approximately three months to complete depending on the organization type and other factors.
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Application Deadlines SFSP applications open in April and the federal deadline to submit a complete and correct application is June 15.
- Applications can take up to 30 days for OSPI to approve a complete application.
- When applying to sponsor the SFSP, consider your anticipated meal service begin date and apply at least 30 days before your program will start.
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Site Locations To prevent the duplication of services, the area new sites propose to serve must not be served in whole or in part by another site.
- Additional sites in a single area may be considered if it is demonstrated that each site will not serve meals to children who are served by another site in the same area for the same meal. 7 CFR 225.6(d)
- Use the USDA SFSP Capacity Builder to see if other sites operate in the same location as your proposed site. Priority is given to returning SFSP sponsors and sites.
If you are interested in learning more about becoming an SFSP sponsor and the application process, please review the CNS New Sponsor Application Process Flow Chart for more information.
Resources
Thanks for all you do to serve children in our state!
Questions? Please email our Summer Meals Team.
Under the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act (ADAAA) of 2008, major life activities such as seeing, hearing, eating, thinking, communicating, and working are protected from discrimination. This act emphasizes that the definition of disability should be broad to protect individuals to the maximum extent permitted by the ADAAA.
Communications with persons with disabilities, including language access, must be equally effective as communication with people without disabilities.
Does Your Organization Have a Language Access Plan?
Language assistance must be provided for those who could potentially participate, and those who currently participate in your program. Having a Language Access Plan (LAP) helps you review your organizational practices to ensure meaningful access for those who are Limited English Proficient.
Tools to Develop Your LAP
Use OSPI CNS' Limited English Proficiency Reference Sheet along with the following resources to get started.
Questions? Please contact your CACFP Specialist. Use the Find Your CACFP Specialist Map to find your specialist!
Register now to attend free, live, interactive training sessions for child nutrition professionals offered by the Institute of Child Nutrition (ICN). These virtual training sessions feature individual lessons led by ICN's expert trainers on important topics for child nutrition professionals in child care programs.
Trainings will be held in February and March. Some of the child care trainings include:
- Food Safety in Child care (4 hours)
- Introductions to Happy Mealtimes in Child Care Settings (4 hours)
- Norovirus in Child Care (2 hours)
For a list of trainings as well as training dates and times, please visit ICN’s VILT Registration page.
Registration is limited to 25 participants per session, and training sessions will fill up quickly.
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January 31
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November 60-day Claiming Deadline - if you haven't already, submit your claim
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February 15
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January Claims Due in WINS
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