Summer 2023 is Quickly Approaching!
Applications to operate the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) for Summer 2023 will be opening April 15th, and that means it is time to plan for annual training!
Requirements for All Sponsors
All lead program administrators from organizations planning to operate the SFSP in 2023 must watch OSPI CNS’s 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.
Annual Training
In-Person Annual Training Dates – Required for new SFSP sponsors, returning sponsors with new lead administrators, sponsors who did not operate SFSP in summer 2022, and sponsors who were assigned in-person training as part of Corrective Action from an Administrative Review. Returning sponsors in good standing are also encouraged to attend in person.
For more details about program operations, please review the Intro to SFSP recorded training.
SFSP Returning Sponsor Webinar –
This webinar will satisfy the annual training requirement for sponsors who operated SFSP in 2022, do not have new lead administrators, and were not assigned in-person training as part of Corrective Action. Join us to hear program updates and refresh on SFSP requirements. A recording of the webinar will be made available at a later date for those who cannot attend live.
2023 SFSP Returning Sponsors Annual Training (pdenroller.org)
Date: Wednesday, April 5
Time: 1pm — 4pm PT
Reminders
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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. 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.
Questions? Please email our Summer Meals Team.
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SFSP Sponsors can add this QR code on their site materials to provide their participants with the required summer feeding site rules - available in both English and Spanish! |
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Apply for the Summer Meals for Kids Grant (Form Package 412) by Thursday, March 30 at 4 pm PT.
The Washington State legislature has provided $50,000 for the Summer Meals For Kids grant. This is a competitive grant for existing Summer Food Service Program sponsors in good standing.
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These funds may be used to:
- Increase the number of sites participating in the summer meal programs and/or the reach of a site through a meal distribution program.
- Increase the number of meals served in existing programs and sites.
- Begin or expand promotion and outreach for a SFSP – including Washington's Farm-to-Summer Week (July 10–14, 2023).
- Provide training to staff and volunteers for operation of new equipment, outreach activities, etc.
- Improve meal quality, equipment, or small supplies used in the program.
Special emphasis for summer 2023 is:
- Adding new SFSP sites;
- Expanding an existing program;
- Programs operating in a rural area (as defined by USDA); and/or
- Programs that have never received a grant from OSPI CNS in the past.
Here are some ideas from previous applications:
- Marketing materials such as vehicle wraps, billboard space, sandwich boards, or printing of marketing materials (i.e. stickers, door hangers, etc.);
- Meal delivery vans/busses/food trucks;
- Portable plug-in coolers;
- Portable hand-washing stations;
- Gardening equipment and supplies for meal site gardens that are used to provide food to program and/or support nutrition education activities.
These grants are available to all sponsors. If you do not have an EDS or iGrants account, you must create one - get started early!
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Use this link to create an account with EDS.
- If you are not a certified teacher, you do not need to complete the second box.
- Fill in all required sections, you will receive a confirmation email. Make sure to complete the verification process.
- After creating your EDS account, you must get iGrants access. Email CustomerSupport@k12.wa.uswith the following information:
- Your first and last name
- Your email address
- Legal name of your organization
- Street address of your organization
- City
- State
- Zip
- Business phone (with area code)
NOTE: It may take up to 48 hours for Customer Support to respond to your request. Please plan accordingly.
Questions? Please email the CNS Grants team.
The National Farm to School Network (NFSN) is organizing listening sessions related to the USDA’s proposed rule for child nutrition program standards.
NFSN is especially looking for school food service staff to speak on how feasible these rules would be to implement.
The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced its proposed rule for child nutrition program standards and is accepting comments through April 10, 2023. A chart outlining the proposed changes is here; Read the full proposed rule here.
What's Below (Summary of actions you can take): If you can’t attend a listening session, we created a survey that you can take instead.
Register for Listening Session 2
Date: Monday, February 27, 2023
Time: 1pm PST/4pm EST
Take the survey if you can't attend a listening session (Due Wednesday, March 1)
Why is this important?
Child nutrition standards must align with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) up-to-date guidance on a healthy diet. The USDA is required to make progress towards these guidelines - hence, the child nutrition program standard rules. These rules will directly affect school, after-school, or early care meals.
The current rules in place through next school year were issued in 2022 as temporary, transitional rules. The proposed rules are called durable rules, meaning they will remain in place permanently until the next DGA update, and possibly further if the DGA is not dramatically changed.
How can you help?
NFSN wants to hear from you our partners to help inform our platform. We are gathering partner input for specific rule proposals. See an explainer here for the topics NFSN is seeking feedback on.
FSN is planning a number of additional engagement opportunities for partners between now and the April 10 deadline, so keep an eye out. If you have any questions, contact Karen at karen@farmtoschool.org or David at david@farmtoschool.org
On February 7, 2023, the Proposed Rule Child Nutrition Programs: Revision to Meal Patterns Consistent With the 2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans was published in the Federal Register.
Based on the latest nutrition science and extensive feedback from Child Nutrition Stakeholders across the nation, USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service is proposing updates to the child nutrition standards in a few key areas to give children the right balance of nutrients for a healthy and appealing meals. The proposed updates reflect the goals of the most recent Dietary Guidelines, as required by law, and build in plenty of time for planning and implementation to ensure Sponsors and the children they serve are set up for success.
This proposed rule – Child Nutrition Programs: Revisions to Meal Patterns Consistent with the 2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans is the next step in an ongoing effort toward healthier meals that USDA and the broader child nutrition community have been partnering on for well over a decade.
What to learn more?
FNS is excited to announce a new webinar on the provisions that impact CACFP and SFSP in the Proposed Rule: Child Nutrition Programs: Revision to Meal Patterns Consistent with the 2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
Register Here
Date: Wednesday, March 1, 2023
Time: 11:30 AM PST
USDA would like your Feedback!
Comments on the Proposed Rule can be submitted through the Federal eRulemaking Portal through April 10, 2023. Follow the online instructions for submitting comments. Instructions are also included for mail-in comments. Please see Section 16 of the proposed rule for a summary of the rule and a list of specific questions for which USDA is seeking public comments, in addition to any other feedback stakeholders wish to provide. For more information on submitting comments, please see Tips for Submitting Effective Comments
Standardized recipes are the gold standard for scratch cooking in Child Nutrition Programs. Learn more about recipe development and standardization in this new Moodle online learning module!
Designed with You in Mind!
With short video modules, it is easy to pick up and put down as the demands of the kitchen allow. Short video slides introduce topics such as the components of a standardized recipe and the recipe development process, while in-kitchen videos demonstrate these concepts in a real life setting.
Access the Training Now!
This new training can be found on the Recipe Development Training Moodle course. Please note: you must have a Moodle account to access this training.
This project was funded by a U.S. Department of Agriculture Team Nutrition Training Grant. Please send any feedback on this training module to Erica Lamson, Team Nutrition Grant Project Director.
Looking for Recipe Ideas?
Looking for some school meal recipe inspiration? Try these recipes developed by the Montana Office of Public Instruction, the Iowa Department of Education, and the Virginia Department of Education through the Fiscal Year 2021 Team Nutrition Training Grant.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently released Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) reimbursement rates for 2023.
Rates are effective for the time period of January 1, 2023, through December 31, 2023. Review the rates on the CNS Claims and Fiscal webpage, under the SFSP dropdown.
Questions? Please email the summer meals team.
Federal child nutrition programs, including the SFSP, have unique and complex regulations and requirements that must always be met.
If an applying organization has never operated a child nutrition program, we consider it a best practice to recommend they operate as SFSP site(s) under an existing SFSP sponsor the first year. This allows new organizations to:
- Serve meals to the community and get acquainted with the program requirements.
- Sponsors have final administrative and financial responsibility for all sponsored sites.
- Unknown projection of participation numbers during the first year may lead to Program unsustainability. Becoming a sponsored site allows new operators to gauge participation levels at proposed sites for future planning and budgeting.
- SFSP is a reimbursement program. This means funding is only provided for eligible meals that are served to participants.
If you are a current SFSP sponsor and would like to hear more about helping new organizations serve our youth meals this summer, please email the Summer Meals team.
The 2022-23 Washington Public School Data for Area Eligibility Report is now available.
This report may be used to establish area eligibility for the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP), Summer Food Service Program (SFSP), the Seamless Summer Option (SSO), and the Afterschool Snack Program (ASP). Area eligibility may be assigned if school data indicates that the proposed meal site is located in an attendance area of a public school where at least 50% of the children are eligible for free or reduced-price school meals.
The Area Eligibility in Child Nutrition Program Reference Sheet provides more details on area eligibility.
Questions? Please contact your program specialist.
Join us for office hours held every 2nd and 4th Wednesday of the month through June, from 2-3pm.
Come talk to SFSP specialists and fellow sponsors about all things SFSP.
Register for Office Hours Here
Register Now for the Regional Farm to School Roadshow: Connecting Local Producers and School Buyers
Co-hosted by OSPI CNS and WSDA Regional Markets Program, this in-person training and networking event will bring together Washington school nutrition professionals and agricultural producers to promote and facilitate Farm to School purchasing relationships.
In this one-day, in-person training, school nutrition professionals will attend training sessions focused on local procurement and culinary techniques for safe meat preparation, hear from local leaders about successful Farm to School partnerships, and engage in a facilitated producer-buyer networking session. Don’t miss this event for building your Farm to School program!
Tuesday, March 21- Northeast Washington ESD 101, Spokane
Tuesday, March 28- Northwestern Washington Research and Extension Center, Mount Vernon
Thursday, March 30- Capitol Region ESD 113, Tumwater
All trainings will take place from 8:30 am – 4:15 pm PT. Follow registration link to view the full training agenda.
Deadline to register is March 6th, 2023.
Questions? Please email the CNS Farm to Child Nutrition Programs team.
In September 2022, the USDA issued a Final Rule for streamlining Program requirements and improving integrity in the SFSP. The rule became effective October 1, 2022, and compliance with the provisions must begin May 1, 2023. Key aspects of the Final Rule are:
- Decrease paperwork burdens while making permanent operational flexibilities.
- Give sponsors the ability to focus program oversight and technical assistance on sites that need it most.
- Ease redundant requirements for high performing, experienced program operators.
- Provide local control of meal service times and allow children to take one non-perishable item offsite to eat later.
- Provide clarification on performance standards, program definitions, and other program requirements.
- This rule also codifies FNS’ statutory waiver authority for all child nutrition programs including the National School Lunch Program, School Breakfast Program, Child and Adult Care Food Program and SFSP.
CNS will go over the impact of these changes on SFSP operations during annual training. More information can be found on USDA's Streamlining Program Requirements and Improving Integrity in the SFSP webpages.
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March 13
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Semi-Monthly Newsletter Released
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