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Join us for office hours held every 2nd and 4th Wednesday of the month through June, from 2-3 pm.
Come talk to SFSP specialists and fellow sponsors about all things SFSP.
Register for Office Hours Here
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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.us with 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.
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's 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
You are required to attend in-person Annual Training if you are:
- A new SFSP Sponsor
- A returning sponsor with new lead administrator(s)
- A sponsor who did not operate SFSP in Summer 2022
- A Sponsor who was assigned in-person training as part of Corrective Action from an Administrative Review.
You are encouraged to attend if you are:
- A returning sponsor in good standing
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: 1 pm — 4 pm 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.
For information and next steps on the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health, please review the following:
Post-Conference Updates
You are invited to join the Biden-Harris administration for their first post-Conference monthly update.
Register for the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health Monthly Update session
Date: Wednesday, March 22
Time: 3-4 pm PT
Congratulations to Global to Local, one of our state’s SFSP sponsors, for winning Silver in the 2022 Turnip the Beet Award! The Turnip the Beet Award showcases summer meal sponsors that go above and beyond to serve kids appetizing, high-quality meals. In 2022, 98 summer meal sponsors across the US were awarded with Gold, Silver or Bronze awards for going the extra mile in 2022.
A full list of the 2022 award winners, information about the award, and the 2023 nomination form can be found here: https://www.fns.usda.gov/sfsp/turnip-the-beet.
Way to go!
On December 29, 2022, President Biden signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 (the Act) (P.L. 117-328). The Act included the authorization of a permanent, non-congregate meal service through the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) and National School Lunch Program (NSLP) Seamless Summer Option (SSO); for areas that have the USDA rural designation with no congregate meal service starting summer 2023.
We have contacted existing SFSP and SSO sponsors in these rural areas, who are in good standing with Child Nutrition Services (CNS), to offer the opportunity to pilot this model at new sites that don’t have current, or have historically not been able to provide congregate feeding options. We will be providing more detailed guidance when our implementation plan is finalized.
The Washington State Farm to School Network is planning a gathering to regroup and revitalize Farm to Child Nutrition efforts in Washington State. The event will be held in Central Washington.
Please complete this brief survey letting the network know what topics you are interested in.
New to the Washington Farm to School Network? The network focuses on active participation to connect members and grow Farm to Child Nutrition participation and success in Washington state. Join the network to get updates on all things Farm to Child Nutrition.
Does your childcare program teach children about food, agriculture or nutrition? Do you serve local foods in meals or snacks? Do you have a garden or grow plants in the classroom? Would you like to? If so, the Washington Farm to School Network wants to hear from you!
You can win one of 42 Amazon gift cards up to $50, and the survey only takes 20-30 minutes to complete. Information from the survey will be used to develop resources, trainings, and support for Farm to ECE locally and across the state.
TAKE THE SURVEY
The survey has been extended until March 17th.
Farm to Early Care and Education (ECE) includes any activities that promote food knowledge, good nutrition, and connections to the way our food is grown, harvested or foraged. Farm to ECE can benefit programs and their communities by offering experiential learning opportunities, supporting local businesses, engaging families, and instilling lifelong healthy habits.
To learn more about F2ECE check out the WA F2ECE website and join the WA F2ECE Community of Practice.
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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! |
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 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.
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March 15
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February Claims Due in WINS
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March 21
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Farm to School Roadshow at ESD 101, Spokane
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March 22-24
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May SFSP USDA Foods Order Period in CNPweb
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March 27
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Semi-Monthly Newsletter Released
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March 28
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Farm to School Roadshow at NWREC, Mt. Vernon
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March 30
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Farm to School Roadshow at ESD 113, Tumwater
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