Federal Food Programs

The Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) is a federally funded program sponsored by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).

CACFP provides funding for nutritious meals and snacks for children and adults in day care, emergency shelters and after school programs.

DPI:  info:  Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) | Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction

COVID program information: CACFP COVID-19 Questions and Answers (wi.gov)

COVID emergency shelter information: Implementation Guidance for State Agencies on Reimbursement for Meals and Snacks Served to Young Adults in CACFP | USDA-FNS

Sponsors forum:  http://www.foodprogramwi.org/

There are different types of CACFP:

The Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) is a federal option for eligible schools to feed 100% of their students’ breakfast and lunch at school for free.

CEP was established under the 2010 Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act and is an innovative and simplified way to serve free meals to all students in high need schools. Originally piloted in just a few states, CEP was expanded to all states for the 2014-2015 school year.

CEP eliminates free, reduced-price, and paid meals and serves all children both breakfast and lunch for free. CEP schools no longer rely on the use of individual household applications.  Eligibility for CEP is determined based on the Identified Student Percentage (ISP) in a school, group of schools, or district. An identified student is any student who is directly certified for free meals through TANF, SNAP, FDPIR, Head Start, and foster care or any student who is homeless or migrant. Schools, groups of schools, or districts with over 40% ISP can choose to enroll in CEP and serve 100% of meals free to students. ISP is multiplied by a factor of 1.6 to get the percentage of meals reimbursed at the free rate. At 62.5% identified students, 100% of school meals will be reimbursed at the free meal rate.

DPI info:  Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) | Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction

Every year DPI publishes eligible and near eligible Wisconsin schools.  Want to know if your school is eligible or participating in CEP? 2020-21 Participating Wisconsin Schools and Districts.

The Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP) is a federally funded program for seniors.  This program works to improve the health of low-income elderly persons at least 60 years of age by supplementing their diets with nutritious USDA

Persons eligible for CSFP are aged 60 and older and whose monthly income is at or below $1,354 for a single person or $1,832 for a family of two (for larger families add $479 for each additional member).

CSFP is not offered in every area of Wisconsin.  We are working to change that for seniors in need. Interested in helping? Contact Maureen at mfitzgerald@feedingamericawi.org or 414-831-6340.

DPI info: Commodity Supplemental Food Program | Wisconsin Department of Health Services

Pandemic-EBT is a program that was created during the 2019-2020 school year to reimburse children and families for missed free or reduced-price school meals when schools closed due to the public health emergency. Pandemic EBT extended to the 2021-22 school year to eligible children who missed school meals due to attending school virtually and in hybrid learning models.

For some families, such as families enrolled in FoodShare, the benefits will issue automatically. Others will need to complete a short application. During the pandemic, the enrollment status for school-aged children across the state has varied from virtual, hybrid to in-person classroom structure – sometimes with multiple models by grade and month. Therefore, Pandemic EBT benefits will often vary from child to child and month to month.

Kids need breakfast to start the day off right. Unfortunately, many teachers report that often children living in poverty will eat lunch at school and will not have another meal until lunch the following day. Teachers also often pay for snacks at school to help hungry children during the day. Wisconsin is often last or near last in a national scorecard of measuring if breakfast is even offered to children at school. We know school breakfast matters to children because during standardize testing day every child is offered breakfast. We think it is important to offer breakfast all year not just on test day.

The School Breakfast Program helps school children start the day ready to learn by receiving a nutritious breakfast every school day.  The School Breakfast Program is federally funded program that provides assistance to states in order to operate breakfast programs in schools.

The USDA Food and Nutrition service administers the SBP at the Federal level.

More than 1 in 5 schools in Wisconsin do not offer breakfast. Ranking 47^th in the nation, of schools that participate in the school lunch program that also offer breakfast, Wisconsin can do better making sure kids are ready to learn when the school day starts.

FRAC breakfast scorecard:  FRAC_BreakfastScorecard_2021.pdf

DPI info: School Breakfast Program (SBP) | Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction

Hunger doesn’t take a summer vacation.  Kids rely on school meals during the school year, and turn to the Summer Food Service Program when school is out.

The Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) provides free summer meals to children from low-income households. Many groups can be summer meals sponsors such as: schools, local governments, non-profit organizations, Universities or Colleges, Community & faith-based organizations

DPI info: Summer Food Service Program | Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction

The purpose of the Seamless Summer Option (SSO) is to encourage more schools to provide meals in the summer and other times when school is not in session. The Seamless Summer Option (SSO) combines features of the National School Lunch Program (NSLP), the School Breakfast Program (SBP), and the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP). The SSO can reduce some paperwork and administrative burden, making it easier for SFAs to feed children in low-income areas during the summer months or during the extended breaks of a year-round school schedule.

Comparison chart of SFSP v. SSO: Administration Guide Summer Food Service Program (azed.gov)

Established under the National School Lunch Act, signed by President Harry Truman in 1946, the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) is a federally funded meal program operating in nearly 2500 public and nonprofit private schools and residential childcare institutions in Wisconsin. School Nutrition professionals across Wisconsin provide nutritionally balanced, low-cost or free lunches to over 400,000 school children each day.

DPI info:  National School Lunch Program (NSLP) | Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program is the largest anti-hunger program in the nation.

For every 1 meal Feeding America provides, SNAP provides 9.

SNAP, formerly known as food stamps, is called FoodShare in Wisconsin.   Qualifying for FoodShare requires meeting income, asset and expense tests.  Over 40% of FoodShare recipients in Wisconsin are children.  Wisconsin has a multi-program online application.  You can apply for benefits at www.access.wi.gov.

CBPP:  http://www.cbpp.org/cms/?fa=view&id=3239

SNAP, or FoodShare, is designed to respond to emergencies and down-turns in the economy. FoodShare participation in Wisconsin increased nearly 20% during the pandemic. Additional FoodShare dollars are helping families put food on the table.

The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) is a Federal program that helps supplement the diets of low-income Americans by providing them with emergency food and nutrition assistance at no cost.

Through TEFAP, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) purchases a variety of nutritious, high-quality USDA Foods, and makes those foods available to States. The amount of food each State receives out of the total amount of food provided is based on the number of unemployed persons and the number of people with incomes below the poverty level in the State. States provide the food to local agencies that they have selected, such as Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin, which in turn distribute the food to local organizations, such as soup kitchens and food pantries that directly serve the public.

Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin provides TEFAP within our network of pantries, meal programs and homeless shelters in WI.

USDA:  http://www.fns.usda.gov/tefap/emergency-food-assistance-program-tefap

Wisconsin:  https://www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/nutrition/tefap/index.htm

The Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations (FDPIR) provides USDA Foods to income-eligible households living on Indian reservations and to Native American households residing in designated areas near reservations. USDA distributes both food and administrative funds to participating Indian Tribal Organizations and state agencies to operate FDPIR. An area of advocacy for FDIPR is creating a connection between FDIPR and SNAP. Unlike TEFAP which allows families to also benefit from the SNAP programs, families must choose between FDIPR and SNAP. This blocked many families from receiving Pre-6 Pandemic-EBT and Emergency Allotments for SNAP during the pandemic.

USDA: Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations | USDA-FNS

USDA FDIPR fact sheet: fdpir-program-fact-sheet-2020-for website.pdf (azureedge.net)

WIC, or the Supplemental Special Nutrition Assistance Program for Women, Infants and Children, is the nation’s premier public health nutrition program. WIC provides supplemental foods and nutrition education for low-income pregnant, breastfeeding, and non-breastfeeding postpartum women, and to children up to age five.

To be eligible for WIC in Wisconsin, a person must meet the following requirements:

• Be a pregnant, breastfeeding or new mother, be an infant up to age one; or be a child up to age 5; and
• Be a resident of Wisconsin. and
• be income eligible; and
• have a health or nutrition need.

The WIC Program uses the same gross income criteria as free and reduced-price school lunches.

Many working families qualify.

Individuals who participate in other programs such as W2 or SNAP/FoodShare may automatically be income eligible. WIC staff will determine income eligibility during your appointment.

Apply for WIC:  https://www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/wic/local-projects.htm

The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA) allows the Wisconsin State WIC agency to temporarily increase the Cash-Value Benefits (CVB) for fruit and vegetable purchases up to $35 a month per participant for four consecutive months. Wisconsin WIC Program plans to increase fruit and vegetable benefits to $35/month for eligible women and children from June through September 2021. Approximately 67,000 women and children will receive an additional $24-26 for fruit and vegetables purchases each month. New WIC benefits begin on various dates throughout the month and are valid for 30 days. Benefits expire 30 days after they begin and unspent benefits are lost. The Wisconsin WIC Program allows fresh, frozen, and canned fruits/vegetables to be purchased. The WIC Shopping Guide provides detailed information about the eligible fruits and vegetables.