It's time to start gathering your items for Fiscal Year 2024–25 (FY25) program renewal!
Applications are due by Friday, September 1, 2024. The Washington Integrated Nutrition System (WINS) application opens on July 15.
Use the "Preparing to Complete Renewal Applications Checklist" to ensure you have all the required materials ready!
Application Reminders
- Only Sponsoring Organizations (Sponsors with multiple sites) are required to submit a Budget in WINS for FY25 renewal. Independent Sponsors (Sponsors with only 1 site) and Local Education Agencies (LEAs) do not need to submit a budget with annual renewal.
- All costs, including food, require prior approval before the cost is incurred. Therefore, budget submissions for Sponsoring Organizations must be approved prior to the start of the fiscal year, no later than September 30, 2024. It may take up to 30 days to process and approve a complete application.
- Sponsors may choose to submit their application for approval past the September 1 deadline but may not be approved in time to receive reimbursement for meals served during October 2024.
Required in WINS
- Update Sponsor Profile
- Sponsor Application
- Site application(s)
- Site calendar(s)
- Budget (multi-site sponsors)
- Management Plan (multi-site sponsors)
- Contract Fact Sheet (for sponsors using a Food Service Management Company (FSMC) or has vendor agreements)
Resources
Recorded Trainings and Tutorials are posted in Canvas.
- CACFP Renewal in WINS Recorded Training
- Recorded Tutorials for each renewal component
WINS Information Sheets are located in WINS. To locate these resources, log into your profile and select the “Info” tab, then click on the “WINS Documentation and Job Aids” option. Information Sheets that may help you with renewal include:
- Completing Sponsor Applications
- Updating Sponsor Contacts In WINS
- Completing Site Applications
- Entering Management Plans
- Entering Site Calendars
- Entering Study Months
- Submitting Budgets
- FDCH Carry Over
- Completing Contract Fact Sheets in WINS
- Renewal Bulletin—Coming Soon!
- WINS Checklist—Coming Soon!
- Renewal Instructions—Coming Soon!
Sponsors who have had a gap in CACFP operation of a year or longer must reactivate their CACFP application. This is in addition to the renewal requirements to operate in FY25.
Questions? Please contact your CACFP Specialist!
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Please take this short survey to let us know if you have new staff that play a CACFP administrative role within your organization. These roles may include:
- Menu Planning
- Claim Submission
- Staff Training
- Monitoring & Program Oversight
- Recordkeeping
- Conducting the Study Month
- Ensuring Civil Rights Compliance
- Financial Management
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Recognizing Sponsors with new administrative staff allows us to provide supplementary technical assistance and support. Additionally, this will help us identify new staff who are required to take the “CACFP Annual Sponsor Training for Centers”. This recorded training takes a deep dive into CACFP basics to ensure Program success!
Submit additional surveys for each new staff member.
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Power Up Your Program is a new opportunity designed to bring Child Nutrition Program peers together to network, learn together, and take action on similar goals over the school year.
If you serve school-age children through the CACFP At-Risk Afterschool Meals Program, you are eligible to register now!
Two action-focused pathways are available for 2024–2025:
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Nutrition education to power up healthier choices
- Culturally inclusive meals, menus, and nutrition education
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Each pathway begins in October 2024 and will support successful local actions through:
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Online training—completed at your convenience
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Peer-to-peer connections and monthly networking calls
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Support from community partners
- One-on-one support from the OSPI Training Team
We’ll start by identifying opportunities and teaming up with partners. From that, you will choose which actions to take and learn how to sustain and build on your efforts. Along the way, there will be opportunities for local, statewide, and national recognition of your efforts. Join us to Power Up your program!
Ready to Register? Please complete the registration form to enroll. *Note: Each pathway is limited to 25 participants. We encourage you to register early.
Power Up Your Program is funded using U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Team Nutrition grant funds. USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer, and lender.
Maintaining standardized recipes is a requirement for CACFP homemade items to ensure they meet meal pattern requirements. The Institute of Child Nutrition has created a Step-by-Step Recipe Standardization Guide for the CACFP. The “how-to” manual is a complete resource, detailing the initial recipe development stage to the final implementation.
It outlines:
- Benefits of standardized recipes
- Details the recipe standardization process
- Provides practical tools and templates
- Includes resources for taste-testing
Download it Today!
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) released SP24-2024 CACFP10-2024 SFSP14-2024 Geographic Preference Option Questions and Answers. This memorandum provides updated guidance to reflect changes made by the final rule, Child Nutrition Programs: Meal Patterns Consistent With the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans and expands upon previous guidance by providing information on how to use local as a specification when purchasing locally produced foods.
This memorandum rescinds and replaces earlier question and answers memoranda SP18-2011, Procurement Geographic Preference Q&As and SP03-2013 CACFP 02-2013 SFSP 02-2013 Procurement Geographic Preference Q&As – Part II.
Please contact your Program Specialist if you have any questions.
Fiscal Year 2024–25 (FY25) Study Month documents are now available!
Institutions participating in the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) are required to conduct a study month annually in October. Program reimbursement for each institution is based on the income levels of the families that they serve. The study month establishes the percentages of the meals that will be paid at the free, reduced-price, and above scale rates.
*At-Risk Programs, Emergency Shelters and ECEAP or Head Start only programs are exempt from this requirement.
Get Ready to Distribute Information!
In preparation for the October study month, please print and have EIEAs, Enrollment Forms and Sample Income Eligibility Parent Letters ready for distribution.
*Please note, a new EIEA has been created for FY 25! Use the most current version of the EIEA posted on our website at the time of enrollment. As EIEAs expire during the year, be sure to provide families with the most current version of our form to complete. New Enrollment Forms and Adult Care EIEAs were not created for FY 25.
Visit the 'Study Month' dropdown on the CACFP Requirements and Materials webpage for these study month documents, Attendance Rosters, Study Month Tips sheet, and recorded Study Month training.
Updates to the CACFP Meal Pattern address:
- Added Sugars
- Meal Modifications
- Substituting Vegetables for Grains
- Nuts and Seeds
- Geographical Preference Expansion
Watch the recorded Final Rule Updates Webinar for CACFP and SFSP Sponsors hosted by USDA to learn more!
Resources:
Questions? Please contact your CACFP Program Specialist
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) extended the automatic eligibility of participants in Washington State’s Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program (ECEAP) for a one-year period.
Institutions that feed and claim children enrolled in ECEAP are not required to collect income applications. Children enrolled in ECEAP are automatically eligible for free meal benefits without further application or eligibility determination.
B042-24 Waiver of Eligibility for Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program
The waiver covers children participating in child care centers that claim meals under the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) and children participating in child care centers that claim meals under the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and the School Breakfast Program (SBP).
All Child Nutrition bulletins can be located on OSPI's Bulletins and Memos webpage.
Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) sponsors must complete OSPI’s required training annually to continue participation in the Program.
Who Must Attend Annual Training?
- All institutions participating in the CACFP.
- All institutions planning to participate in the CACFP in Fiscal Year 2024–25 (FY25).
- At a minimum, the person responsible for oversight of the CACFP must attend. This training is intended for directors and administrators.
How Will Annual Training be Conducted for FY25?
View the Fiscal Year 2024-25 Training Checklist to see which trainings are required for your Sponsor type and the participants you serve. This checklist also outlines which trainings will be virtual and which will be presented in-person.
Recorded Training Modules—Required
CACFP required training will be provided as recorded training modules in Canvas, OSPI’s learning platform. These modules will be available to view in July and include:
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- Annual Updates Training
- Procurement Training
- Civil Rights Training
- CACFP in ECEAP & HeadStart—Required for ECEAP/HS grantees only
- CACFP Annual Sponsor Training for Centers— Required for new Program Administrators
Please register for the following in-person trainings if applicable to your CACFP Program.
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Training
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Sponsor Type
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Required
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Date
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Location
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The Basics for Multi-Site Sponsors
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Independent Sponsors transitioning to oversight at multiple sites
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Multi-site Sponsors assigned as Corrective Action during an Administrative Review
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Yes
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August 20
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Everett
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Bringing your At-Risk Operation into Compliance
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Local Education Agency CACFP At-Risk Sponsors
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Yes- Sessions will be offered during NSLP annual training
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August 1
Register
August 13
Register
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Spokane
Burien
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Oversight at Unaffiliated Sites
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Sponsors of Unaffiliated Sites
and
Family Day Care Home Sponsors
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NO
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Sept. 24
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Ellensburg
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Watch for upcoming CNS Updates to be notified when required trainings have been posted in Canvas.
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CACFP meals must be served onsite, in a congregate meal service to be eligible for reimbursement. Occasionally, CACFP operators may serve meals offsite during a field trip. This is allowable, provided that the CACFP institution provides notice to OSPI prior to the event. |
The following criteria must be met for field trip meals to be reimbursable:
- A field trip notification must be submitted to OSPI before the field trip occurs.
- Field trip meals must be consumed in a congregate setting.
- All requirements of the meal pattern must be met for the field trip.
- A separate meal count form must be maintained for the field trip.
- If the planned meal taken on the field trip (i.e., sack lunch) differs from the meal served to children who remained at the site, a separate menu must be kept.
Field Trip Notifications received on or after the date of the field trip will result in meals not being eligible for reimbursement. If changes occur, you must submit a new notification and it must be received no later than the day before the field trip date.
An updated reference sheet can be found on our website in CACFP Requirements and Materials section under the Field Trip dropdown.
Did you know?
- New CACFP Sponsors are required to notify parents/guardians of their facility’s participation in CACFP and the Programs' benefits.
- Current Sponsors must share this information with families when adding new facilities.
- Current Sponsors must make CACFP informational materials available upon request and inform families of availability and nutritional benefits of the program.
 OSPI has created a CACFP spotlight video and CACFP Brochure that you are able to use!
- Share these with families to inform them of your participation in CACFP.
- Inform households of the enhanced meal service provided to their family member(s) while in care.
- Sponsors of unaffiliated sites and Family Day Care Homes may use this in recruitment efforts when soliciting new facilities or providers.
 The National CACFP Sponsors Association (NCA) is hosting a 2-day virtual summit on August 14–15, 2024 and August 21–22, 2024. Training will be available on demand until the end of August for those who can't make the live trainings dates.
NCA is awarding up to 100 scholarships for free registration! Apply here by July 24, 2024.
Below is a sample of training sessions (17.5 hour of CEUs) with more information about the sessions, presenters, and scholarship opportunity on NCA’s website and in their digital brochure.
- Exploring the Power of the Food Program
- USDA Program Updates & Resources
- Menu Essentials: Planning for Success
- Who's at the Door? Field Monitoring & Site Visits
- The Joys of the Garden Classroom
- CACFP Expense Detective: What's Allowed?
- Great Grains! Taking the Guess Work Out of What’s Creditable
- CN Labels & Product Formulation Statements: Hands-On Practice
Harvest of the Summer
To support sponsors in integrating local foods into your meals, OSPI is excited to feature Harvest of the Summer resource sheets. Each week for the month of July and August we will highlight one local food that will be in season. The resource sheets will include fun facts, nutritional information, selection and storage tips, recipe ideas, and educational resources/activities.
For August, we are featuring Watermelon, Cherry Tomatoes, Basil, and Cantaloupe. You can find these, and future Harvest of the Summer resource sheets on our Farm to CACFP webpage.
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July 15
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June Claims Due in WINS by 5pm
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July 15
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FY 25 Application Opens in WINS
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July 30
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May 60-Day Claim Deadline —if you haven't already, submit your claim
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