Late last month President Biden unveiled the highly anticipated American Families Plan.  Unfortunately, the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) is not included in the plan.  There are, however, many provisions that address childhood hunger and investments in child care.

Some of the provisions that address childhood food insecurity include:

• expand Summer EBT
• increase community eligibility
• investments in healthy foods initiatives

Read FRAC's statement FRAC Applauds Biden Administration for Critical Investments in Food Programs in American Families Plan

In relation to child care and early learning "The president is proposing to provide a $225 billion investment to address the child care needs of families and providers, $220 billion to expand voluntary preschool access to all 3- and 4-year-olds, and a permanent extension of recent improvements from the American Rescue Plan to various tax credits, including to the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit (CDCTC), among other provisions to help working parents and young children." (First Five Years Fund)
Read "American Families Plan Includes Historic Support and Reforms for the Nation's Early Learning and Child Care System" for more details.

​This proposal is separate from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) which is a bill that has been signed and states are submitting their plans to the federal government over the coming weeks providing an overview of how they intend to use those funds.  Guidance for how states can use the ARPA funds in the child care sector was published yesterday.  View that guidance here.

Thank you for taking action! Last week we asked you to take action and endorse a CACFP bill, Access to Healthy Food For Young Children Act, that was being reintroduced in the Senate by Senator Casey.

​Now that the bill has been reintroduced to the Senate it's time to tell your members of Congress to support the bill. (link)

How do you do that?
Just fill out this quick form, personalize the email - if you'd like - and click send! This will send an email to your members of congress. Then share the link with your networks!

What Does the Bill do for CACFP?
This critical Act would support healthy nutrition for children in child care through strengthening the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) by:

• improving the adequacy of benefits by allowing another meal or snack for children in a full day of care;
• increasing reimbursement rates for providers and sponsors;
• reaching more providers in rural and suburban areas by improving area eligibility;
• streamlining monthly paperwork by moving to annual eligibility for for-profit child care centers and;
• eliminating overly burdensome and outdated paperwork.

What Happens Next?
​We expect another bill to be introduced in the house in the coming weeks. Keep an eye out for future calls to action!  In the meantime, be sure you tell your members of Congress to support this one!

Crosspost: CACFP Roundtable

Early next week Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) plans to reintroduce the Access to Healthy Food for Young Children Act. Fact sheet about the Access to Healthy Food for Young Children Act.

Take action: Sign on in support of this bill here.

Why it matters:
This bill is part of Congress's Child Nutrition Reauthorization process, which hasn't happened in over 10 years! The Access to Healthy Food for Young Children Act is the bill CACFP has been waiting for. It includes policy improvements for the entire program, including:

• Additional meal service (typically snack or supper) for full day care
• Increased reimbursements
• ​Annual eligibility for proprietary (for-profit) child care centers
• Improved area eligibility test
• ​Funds to support implementation of the new meal pattern
• Creates a CEP pilot for CACFP
• ​Improves cost of living adjustment for child care homes
• Allows centers to collect income applications every four years
• ​Directs USDA to reduce paperwork

Spread the word: Don't forget to share your support for the Access to Healthy Food for Young Children Act on your social media accounts. Sample tweet:
1 in 4 children in the U.S. faces hunger because of the pandemic. Now is the time to make improvements to #CACFP to help our kids get healthier, not hungrier. Join us in supporting @SenBobCasey #ChildNutrition bill. https://bit.ly/32qnrcl

Strengthening #CACFP to support #childcare providers as they provide nutritious foods to young children is a no brainer. Join us in supporting @SenBobCasey #ChildNutrition bill. https://bit.ly/32qnrcl

@SenBobCasey introduced a #ChildNutrition bill that strengthens #CACFP in a myriad of ways: allowing an additional meal, increased meal reimbursements and more! Join us in supporting @SenBobCasey #ChildNutrition bill. https://bit.ly/32qnrcl
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Join our partners at the CACFP Roundtable in telling your stories.  Share your CACFP & COVID-19 stories and/or lessons learned as we continue to advocate for sponsors, providers and the children and adults served by #CACFP. Your voice, your experience matters and can shape the future of this essential program.

The CACFP Leadership and Policy track at the Anti-Hunger Policy Conference was once again motivating and inspiring this year.  We heard from Secretary Vilsack, Senators Stabenow and Boozman, USDA Leadership and experts in the CACFP field.  Secretary Vilsack shared the guiding principles of USDA under his leadership which are:

• A hassle-free system for benefits qualification
• Make sure benefits are convenient (i.e. expand online purchasing)
• Consumers are offered and encouraged to make healthy choices
• Equity guides decision-making & removes barriers

We also learned that the Child Nutrition Reauthorization (CNR) Act is being fast tracked by Congress this spring.  What does this mean?

Secretary Vilsack is no stranger to USDA and our federal nutrition programs!  Tom Vilsack was confirmed by the Senate for a second round of the Cabinet post as Secretary of USDA in the Biden administration.  Mr. Vilsack was the Secretary of USDA for 8 years under the Obama administration.