CACFP Training Grants

 

The overall goal of this project is for the selected applicant to plan, develop, design, promote, and ultimately execute and evaluate a training program that uses a tiered approach to equip State agencies with the knowledge and skills necessary to train their CACFP program operators (including CACFP institutions such as sponsoring organizations and/or independent centers as well as CACFP facilities including child care centers and day care homes) to effectively operate the CACFP at the local-level.

Active 10.536 Food and Nutrition Service, Department of Agriculture B - Project Grants Fiscal Year 2018 Focus groups were completed with representatives from CACFP National Professional Association membership & board members, National CACFP Sponsors Association membership & board members, State Agencies, and CACFP independent centers. The purpose of the focus groups were to verify the training needs of sponsoring organizations. A curriculum development meeting was held in March 2018 and training materials are being developed. Informational meetings were held with sponsoring organizations and participating State Agencies at the 2018 National CACFP Sponsors Association National Child Nutrition conference program. Module training topics and resource guides have been submitted to FNS for review. Training materials are currently being developed and will be reviewed by FNS.
Fiscal Year 2019 In March, April, and July of 2019 innovative and engaging CACFP Operational Resources & Education (CORE) training sessions were held. The sessions focused on nine core topics of CACFP administration including financial viability, management plans, serious deficiency, budgets, internal controls, corrective action, recordkeeping, claims for reimbursement, and monitoring and oversight. During the first week of August 2019, the CORE-CACFP Train-the-Trainer Virtual Conference was broadcast from Atlanta. This 3-day CORE-CACFP Train-the-Trainer Virtual Conference was previously recorded and included all eight CORE modules, activities, quizzes, certificates of completion and more! 175 State agency staff and 23 FNS staff participated in the Virtual Conference training and to date, 426 State agency Staff and 42 FNS staff have participated in the CORE trainings. These trainings allowed state agencies to obtain immediate tools and resources that they may then share with their sponsoring organizations and these sessions have received outstanding reviews from participants. In addition, the CORE-CACFP Train-the-Trainer Virtual Conference is “Available on Demand” and registered participants may review the 9 modules at their own pace. Once a module is completed, a certificate of completion will be awarded. Similarly, ten micro-learning modules are being designed for production and will be made available virtually.
Fiscal Year 2020 In September 2019 and March and April of 2020, three CACFP Operational Resources & Education (CORE) online modules were released to sponsoring organizations: “Financial Viability,” “Monitoring and Oversight” and “Serious Deficiency.” Each online course contains three lessons designed to provide an engaging overview of the CACFP Performance Standards and federal CACFP monitoring requirements. As of June 30, the Financial Viability module has had 845 total registrants, the Monitoring and Oversight module has had 441 total registrants, and the Serious Deficiency module has had 228 total registrants. On May 8, 2020, the USDA CORE Mobile App was released to sponsoring organizations. The Mobile App contains a series of microlearning lessons designed to be used as a refresher of select content delivered as part of the CORE training. As of June 30, there have been a total of 246 downloads of the Mobile App on the Google and Apple platforms. The CORE-CACFP Train-the-Trainer Virtual Conference remains “Available on Demand” and registered participants may review the nine modules, activities, and quizzes at their own pace. As of June 30, there have been a total of 137 participant views of the On-Demand broadcast. The ten Resource Guide modules have been under development throughout fiscal year 2020. The modules include: Management Plans, Recordkeeping & Claims for Reimbursement, Monitoring & Oversight, Serious Deficiency, Preparing for a State Agency Review, Trainer Success, Financial Viability, Internal Controls, Budgets, and Corrective Action.
Fiscal Year 2021 CACFP stakeholders continue to engage in the online training tools developed and maintained as part of the CACFP Operational Resources & Education (CORE) project. As of June 30, 2021, there have been 1,261 total registrants for the "Financial Viability" online module, 927 total registrants for the "Monitoring & Oversight" online module, and 557 total registrants for the "Serious Deficiency" online module. As of June 30, 2021, there has been a total of 369 downloads of the CORE Mobile App on the google and apple platforms, and a total of 283 participants who viewed the Train-the-Trainer Virtual Conference On-Demand broadcast. In May and June 2021, the CORE-CACFP Train-the-Trainer Conference was broadcast to 40 FNS participants. Collaboration on the development of the ten topic modules for the CORE training resource guide continued.
Fiscal Year 2022 In April of 2022, there were over 500 Program Operators that attended CORE training in person at the National CACFP Sponsors Association conference with 70 attending virtually. Public Law 113-79, 42 U.S.C. 1766
Section 17 of the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1766) provides authority to assure the effective and proper administration of the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP). Under this program, subject to the availability of funds, the Secretary of Agriculture may award competitive grants and cooperative agreements for training programs supporting CACFP. This announcement of the availability of funds is for one new cooperative agreement for a 2-year time-frame (September 2017 - August 2019) with an accredited public or private Academic Institute of Higher Learning, a Research, or Training Institution (i.e. entity that provides training such as a corporation or non-profit). Special consideration will be given to applicants who have expertise in CACFP and/or have successfully implemented training initiatives with a Child Nutrition Programs focus. State agencies will be equipped with a training program that uses a tiered approach with the knowledge and skills necessary to train their program operators from CACFP institutions (sponsoring organizations and/or independent centers) and CACFP facilities (child care centers and day care homes) to effectively operate the CACFP at the local-level. Not applicable. Preapplication coordination is not applicable. This program is excluded from coverage under 2 CFR 200, Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards. There are application content requirements (pg 13), screening requirements (pg 11) and format requirements. Contact the headquarters or regional location, as appropriate for application deadlines From 30 to 60 days. Not applicable. Not applicable. The following selection criteria will be used to evaluate applications for the RFA. Project Design and Implementation (35 points) Budget Appropriateness (15 points) Organizational Experience and Management/Staff Capability (30 points) Experience and Past Performance (20 points) The cooperative agreement funds the creation of materials and training of State agencies on CACFP requirements. Some of the trainings will be in person and require travel. Not applicable. Not applicable. Not applicable. Statutory formula is not applicable to this assistance listing.

Matching requirements are not applicable to this assistance listing.

MOE requirements are not applicable to this assistance listing. September 2017 - June 2022 Method of awarding/releasing assistance: Letter. None/Not specified. Barbara Smith
3101 Park Center Drive
Alexandria, VA 22302 US
barbara.smith@usda.gov
Phone: 703-605-0784

Anne Buckley
1320 Braddock Pl.
Alexandria, VA 22302 USA
anne.buckley@usda.gov
Phone: 703-457-7802 https://www.fns.usda.gov/cacfp/child-and-adult-care-food-program 12-3539-0-1-605 (Project Grants (Cooperative Agreements)) FY 22 FY 23 FY 24 FY 21 FY 20$253,600.00; FY 19$3,000,000.00; FY 18$3,000,000.00; FY 17$3,000,000.00; - (Cooperative Agreements) FY 22$0.00; FY 23 est $0.00; FY 24 est $0.00; FY 21$596,108.00; FY 20 - $3,000,000 (one cooperative agreement awarded) $253,600 (one year extension awarded) $596,108 (one year extension awarded) Current regulations can be found under 7 CFR Part 226, https://www.fns.usda.gov/cacfp/regulations. For additional resources and guidance, see: https://www.fns.usda.gov/cacfp/nutrition-and-nutrition-education Fiscal Year 2017 One award to develop a training program that uses a tiered approach to equip State agencies with the knowledge and skills necessary to train their Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) operators.
Fiscal Year 2018 A $3,000,000 cooperative agreement with USDA FNS was awarded to develop and deliver an innovative CACFP training program. The ultimate beneficiary of this training program is CACFP sponsors. This training program will be delivered to directly to state agencies and state agencies will deliver the training to CACFP sponsors. The new training program has a name: CORE- CACFP Operational Resources & Education | Practical Training Solutions for CACFP Administration.