What is CACFP?
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) is an essential federal program that works to combat hunger by bringing healthy food to children in child care programs, including child care centers, home-based programs and after-school care. Every day, more than 4 million children receive healthy meals and snacks through CACFP. The program supports child care programs, provides reimbursements for nutritious meals and snacks to eligible children enrolled in child care programs, and provides guidance to help programs create healthy meals. We celebrate the Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies (CCR&Rs) across the country who act as CACFP sponsors and the child care programs who participate in CACFP.
What is National CACFP Week?
March 14-20 is National CACFP Week. National CACFP Week is an annual campaign to raise awareness about the CACFP program and its role in addressing nutrition and food insecurity and supporting child care programs.
In recognition of National CACFP Week, the CACFP Sponsors Association has issued a social media challenge, with a chance to win $100.
CACFP’s Vital Role
At Child Care Aware® of America (CCAoA), we believe good nutrition is essential to healthy child development and a critical component of high-quality health care. For this reason, we encourage eligible providers to participate in CACFP. We also work to support policies that encourage healthy food in child care at the federal and state level through funding for nutrition programs, state licensing and quality measurement standards.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, many states initially closed or limited the capacity of early child care and education (ECE) programs. This loss affected children who were provided free meals and snacks through CACFP. In addition, CACFP sponsor organizations and CACFP-participating child care programs experienced large decreases in funding due to reduced child care attendance and enrollment. CCAoA worked with partners to ensure ECE programs were able to continue to serve food to low-income children in the midst of the upheaval associated with the pandemic.
CACFP is a critical source of support for child care programs in their work to encourage wellness and healthy child development.
Learn More about CACFP and Nutrition
- Visit the National CACFP Week website to learn more about CACFP and how you can participate in National CACFP Week
- Visit the USDA’s website, Providing Multiples Meals at a Time During the Coronavirus Pandemic
- Watch our webinar: CACFP Policy and Practice Updates During COVID-19
- Visit our nutrition page
