Welcome Back to a New Year!
While it's only January, it's already time for us to start thinking about Summer Meals, and what better way than a kickoff event?
The last couple years have brought us lots of changes in our programs. To help stay in touch, we invite you to join us for a short webinar next month. During this webinar, we will introduce staff, discuss training, and provide information regarding 2022 SFSP plans.
Register for the 2022 SFSP Kickoff Webinar
Date: Tuesday, February 22
Time: 3:30–4:00 pm PT
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 highly 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. This is in addition to the VCA process for those who are new to SFSP or did not operate SFSP in 2021.
- When applying to sponsor the SFSP, consider your anticipated meal service begin date and submit your WINS application and additional required documentation 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.
Summer 2022 is Quickly Approaching!
Applications to operate the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) or the Seamless Summer Option (SSO) for Summer 2022 will be opening at the beginning of April, and that means it is time to plan for annual training!
More information on application requirements will be released in the coming weeks. At this time, there has been no indication the USDA will extend any nationwide waivers that were available for SFSP operators in 2020 and 2021, therefore, training will be focused on regular SFSP requirements.
Requirements for All Sponsors
All lead program administrators from organizations planning to operate the SFSP in 2022 must watch the Civil Rights and Procurement recorded trainings annually, prior to program application submission.
Note: Civil Rights & Procurement trainings can be waived if training was completed earlier in the year with another CNS program. Please keep documentation regarding training completed.
New Sponsor/New Lead Administrator In-Person Training
Who Must Attend?
Lead program administrators from organizations that are:
- New SFSP sponsors;
- Returning sponsors with new lead administrative staff;
- Returning sponsors who did not operate SFSP in 2021; OR
- Returning sponsors required to attend as part of their corrective action plan.
In-Person Training Dates (registration will be released soon):
For more details about program operations, please review the Intro to SFSP recorded training.
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March 1 | 9am – 4pm, Renton
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March 10 | 9am – 4pm, Bremerton
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March 24 | 9am – 4pm, Spokane
Online Training Option for Returning Sponsors
Returning sponsors who operated SFSP in summer 2021 and do not meet the criteria above may watch a recorded training instead of attending the in-person training. This training will be available on the OSPI CNS website and additional information will be shared in upcoming SFSP Newsletters.
Questions? Contact your OSPI CNS Program Specialist or email the Summer Meals Team.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently released Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) reimbursement rates for 2022.
Rates are effective for the time period of January 1, 2022, through December 31, 2022. Review the rates on the CNS Claims and Fiscal webpage, under the SFSP dropdown.
Questions? Please contact your program specialist.
The National Child Nutrition Conference will be offered virtually as well as onsite in New Orleans, Louisiana, from April 18–22, 2022.
This conference is a five-day professional education event offering over 75 hours of presentations, featuring topics including:
- Nutrition
- Program operations
- Administration and financial management of CACFP and SFSP
- Resources and technology
- Train-the-trainer sessions
- Management solutions
Register for the event, read about the 2022 speakers, workshops, preconference deep-dive sessions and learning institutes on the NCA 2022 National Child Nutrition Conference webpage.
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February 22
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2022 SFSP Kickoff Webinar | 3:30–4:00 pm PT
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March 1
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SFSP Annual Training | Renton, WA
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March 10
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SFSP Annual Training | Bremerton, WA
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March 24
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SFSP Annual Training | Spokane, WA
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