 The Child Nutrition Reauthorization process continues to move forward (albeit a bit more slowly that originally expected) with House Committee on Education & Labor Hearing, Food for Thought: Examining Federal Nutrition Programs for Young Children and Infants. This hearing focused specifically on the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC). Advocates and experienced programmatic individuals testified during a virtual hearing about the value and importance of these programs as well as providing recommendations for improvement.
The expert who testified on behalf of CACFP was a registered dietician, Theresa Turner, Nutrition Specialist for Child Youth Services, US Army and the President of the Maryland Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Her testimony emphasized the impact of the program on the children in her centers, the financial difficulty throughout COVID, the need for an extra reimbursable meal and reducing the burden of unnecessary paperwork. Her testimony begins at minute 20:00. Representative Bonameci also spoke about the importance of the additional reimbursable meal, leveraging technology and reducing the burden and barrier of paperwork in CACFP. She also spoke about the pending reintroduction of her bill the "Early Childhood Nutrition Improvement Act H.R. 1332" which previously enjoyed bipartisan support. Representative Bonameci mentioned this bill includes an additional reimbursable meal, supports for paperwork reduction and more. She talks about it at minute 40:38. You can also learn more about the bill when it was originally introduced in 2017 and hear her speak about it at our CACFP 50th Birthday Reception with Congress here. NOW is the time to make CACFP more than an acronym that's hard to say! Join the National CACFP Forum, the CACFP Roundtable and our partners in the the CACFP Kid Ambassador Campaign. Get all of the information you need to know here!
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