As the national landscape for child nutrition continues to evolve, the Forum remains focused on strengthening and advancing the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) through collaboration, clarity, and leadership.
In 2025–2026, our priorities center on three key areas:
Protecting Program Integrity
We are actively engaging with federal and state partners to ensure CACFP policies reflect the realities of program operations. This includes advocating for clear distinctions between fraud and human error, supporting improvements to the Serious Deficiency process, and promoting oversight approaches that prioritize technical assistance and due process.
Advancing Practical, Provider-Informed Policy
The Forum continues to elevate the voices of providers, sponsors, and state agencies to inform policy decisions. We are focused on ensuring guidance—such as dietary standards and monitoring requirements—is both achievable and aligned with the diverse settings CACFP serves.
Strengthening the CACFP Community
Through national convenings, partnerships, and thought leadership, the Forum brings together stakeholders across the CACFP ecosystem. We are committed to fostering connection, sharing best practices, and building a unified voice to support the program’s future.
Together, these priorities reflect our mission to protect, perfect, and promote CACFP—ensuring it continues to serve children, families, and communities with excellence.

The National CACFP Forum has been working with fellow advocates to urge Congress for a bipartisan commitment on the Child Nutrition Reauthorization for 2023 with a focus on investments in the CACFP. Congress needs to invest in CACFP in order to support children's health and wellbeing, the early educator workforce, and the workforce at large that child care providers support throughout the nation. The National CACFP Forum applauds the work and supports Congress has shown to CACFP throughout the pandemic but that was temporary and the community needs a sustainable investment - such as an additional reimbursable meal.

Join the Forum in telling the Senate Agriculture Committee to take the lead in accomplishing a bipartisan bill that includes reimbursement of an additional child care meal or snack. Take action here.

The Early Childhood Nutrition Improvement Act will soon be introduced by Representatives Bonamici (D-OR) and Herrera Beutler (R-WA). This bipartisan bill would strengthen CACFP in a number of ways, including:

• allowing another meal or snack for children in a full day of care
• improving reimbursement rate adjustments for child care home providers
• moving to annual eligibility for for-profit child care centers
• maximizing technology to eliminate overly burdensome and outdated paperwork; and
• making improvements to the serious deficiency process.

It's important for our community to show up strong with organizational sign-on to this bill so that others in Congress and throughout the child nutrition world understand this bill is important and impactful to you and our CACFP community at large. Here is a link to the fact sheet for more information. Here is a link to the quick from to fill out to add your organization's name.

Not sure if you should sign on? Some considerations:

• This is for organizations, agencies or companies to sign on, not for individuals at this time (there will be a time for individuals to take action soon!)
• Child care centers, family child care providers or other businesses - please do sign on but be sure to use the business name (not your individual name)
• If you are not a national organization, such as a child care center or school etc, choose the "state/local organization" option for the question "Is this a National Organization or a State/local organization?"
• If you're not sure what to do, contact [email protected] and we'll figure it out together

Fun note, when the bill was originally introduced Representative Bonamici spoke about it during our CACFP 50th Birthday Celebration.  You can listen to her champion CACFP about here!

"Last week, ​the National CACFP Forum's President, Reynaldo Green, testified at Chairman McGovern's "roundtable examining the role schools play in ending Hunger and improving nutrition." The purpose of this roundtable is to highlight food insecurity and consider what steps Congress and the Biden Administration can take to address hunger in America.

Green (minute 14) spoke about the importance of improving CACFP through the Child Nutrition Reauthorization Act (CNR).  He highlights the need for CACFP participation, how it helps children's well being with consumption of nutritious meals while in child care and boosting quality in child care settings.  Green also points out that there are "thousands of child care providers that do not participate in CACFP due to systemic barriers."  He shares recommendations for CACFP improvement through the CNR.  Later in the Roundtable, Green, shares that as much as schools need facility equipment grants, so do child care providers in centers and homes.  He also talks about the great impact the CACFP has on children in pre-k making good choices in school and ties it together with farm to early childhood and education programs.

He talks about the flexibilities provided by the pandemic for non-congregate feeding - what worked, what didn't and how we can continue to look at policies to improve access to healthy and appropriate food to children.  

In closing he talks about school district and child care collaboration.  He then passionately speaks on behalf of child care providers by telling a child care provider story of feeding children as her own personal mission - with no reimbursement. Green tells the committee that providers need to be rewarded for the good work they do and the meals they serve, that they need to be reimbursed for the extra meal served.

Watch this very important discussion and Reynaldo Green represent the CACFP community and share the critical role the program plays in alleviating food insecurity and improving healthy child development.

Note: each link above will begin the recording approximately when Reynaldo speaks about that topic.

The Food Research and Action Center (FRAC) has created a toolkit to help sponsors and other agencies that support family child care encourage family child care providers to enroll in the food program and receive almost double the reimbursement than if they came on the program at the lower reimbursement rate.  It comes with many tools but one of the best parts is that the flyers and social shares can be easily customizable because they are in Powerpoint!   Sponsoring organizations can insert their logo and contact information directly to the item!  The toolkit includes customizable social media graphics and content, emails, flyers, and a model press release. 

​It is called the Communications Toolkit: Maximizing the CACFP Area Eligibility Waiver for Family Child Care Homes, click here to get these useful resources.

Reminder of why all family child care providers are reimbursed at the highest rate until June 30, 2022.