It's been a year since the world changed dramatically in light of the coronavirus pandemic. The Roundtable, like you and others, has been reflecting on what the CACFP community has accomplished in response to, at first a flurry of change, and then within a state of sustained crisis. How did CACFP change for you and what would you suggest we keep doing as we move forward past the pandemic? Share here.
Looking Ahead
Through this exhausting year, we find light, and want to look ahead while we look back. The
CACFP Roundtable is working on a report about CACFP and COVID-19 and want to add lessons learned that we might take with us into the new year and out of a COVID-centric year. Please tell us what you learned this year that we can use in the coming years to make CACFP better and even more accessible to the children and adults that need it. Would it revolve around continuing flexibilities? For example:
One at-risk program that provides meals to rural communities found that the non-congregate waiver made it so they could serve so many more children than when requiring the children to be in one place.
Brainstorming new possibilities for CACFP a sponsor was wondering if there could be a way to do a "backpack" program through CACFP so children could receive meals over the weekend.
Other sponsors have stated that the remote monitoring visits make the program much more equitable and accessible for providers to be able to participate in the CACFP - in turn reaching more children in need of nutritious meals.
What about you? Experiencing crisis such as this, helps us reimagine a new future! Let's work together to imagine what a better more equitable CACFP might look like. Please share! (form is also below!)
Highlighting the CACFP community's Commitment to those they serve during COVID-19
As many have seen on the news the food banks and the national school lunch programs did and continue to do all they could to leverage the flexibilities put in place to feed the children and families during the ongoing crisis - so did the CACFP community.
Afterschool and at-risk programs have figured out how to provide the required “enrichment” activities for children either virtually or sending them home with the grab and go meals.
Family child care providers and their CACFP sponsors figured out how to put together meals for families to pick up in order to ensure the children in their care still received meals even though they were closed.
Child care centers learned how to implement hybrid models of learning and meal service to support their families.
Adult day care providers learned how to deliver meals to those they serve, while ensuring the safety of this extra at-risk population.
Sponsors and states put in place policies and practices to uphold the integrity of a federal program while still ensuring children and adults were receiving nutritious meals.
Emergency shelters served more children and advocated to raise the age limit of youth served.
Child care providers, child care centers and head start teachers figured out how to roll back family style meal service best practices in the technical way, but still ensure a positive meal experience.
Innovative community partnerships were established when food and resources were scarce.
The CACFP community, in all of the different areas of service was, and continues to be, resilient.
What have we learned this year as we look toward the CACFP community’s future?
The community pivoted in a number of ways throughout the year. The community became nimble and tried new things, supported existing providers and reached new ones.
How did CACFP change for you and what would you suggest we keep doing as we move forward past the pandemic? Share here.