Minute Menu

Tag: child care

  • The CACFP Matters!

    The CACFP Matters!

    [fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”no” hundred_percent_height=”no” hundred_percent_height_scroll=”no” hundred_percent_height_center_content=”yes” equal_height_columns=”no” menu_anchor=”” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” class=”” id=”” background_color=”” background_image=”” background_position=”center center” background_repeat=”no-repeat” fade=”no” background_parallax=”none” enable_mobile=”no” parallax_speed=”0.3″ video_mp4=”” video_webm=”” video_ogv=”” video_url=”” video_aspect_ratio=”16:9″ video_loop=”yes” video_mute=”yes” video_preview_image=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” margin_top=”” margin_bottom=”” padding_top=”” padding_right=”” padding_bottom=”” padding_left=””][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ layout=”1_1″ spacing=”” center_content=”no” link=”” target=”_self” min_height=”” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” class=”” id=”” background_color=”” background_image=”” background_position=”left top” background_repeat=”no-repeat” hover_type=”none” border_size=”0″ border_color=”” border_style=”solid” border_position=”all” padding_top=”” padding_right=”” padding_bottom=”” padding_left=”” dimension_margin=”” animation_type=”” animation_direction=”left” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_offset=”” last=”no”][fusion_text columns=”” column_min_width=”” column_spacing=”” rule_style=”default” rule_size=”” rule_color=”” class=”” id=””]

    The Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) is responsible for more than you may think! It provides jobs and opportunities and, of course, promotes healthy eating.

    The CACFP has so many benefits for children, child care providers, families, the list goes on and on. “Through CACFP, more than 4.2 million children and 130,000 adults receive nutritious meals and snacks each day as part of the day care they receive,” states the USDA Food and Nutrition Service.

    A brief history

    The CACFP went through many significant changes and revision from the version we know today. The CACFP was established in 1968 by Congress under the National School Lunch Act. At this time, the food program was only available to child care centers in low-income areas and was known as the Child Care Food Program.

    Almost 10 years later, the food program expanded to family child care homes that met State licensing requirements and were supervised by a sponsoring organization. The nonprofit sponsoring organizations were in charge of keeping the child care homes in compliance with Federal and State regulations as set by the Child Care Food Program.

    In 1987, Congress revised the Child Care Food Program to include a new adult age bracket and later changed the name to what we know today – the Child and Adult Care Food Program.

    In 2010, the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act was signed into law, which revised and structured the CACFP even more. This act identified the CACFP as an important food program that promotes healthy development in young children.

    April 2016, the USDA made the first changes to the CACFP Meal Pattern, which went into effect October 2017.

    How you can get involved

    If you are a child care provider at a center or a home, start with finding a food program sponsor in your state. A sponsor will be able to guide, monitor, and educate you while on the food program and is required for all child care homes. To find a sponsor in your state, click here.

    Related: The CACFP Provides Value to Your Child Care Business

    If you are interested in becoming a CACFP sponsor, contact your state’s CACFP contact. Each state has its own application and training process. You can find your contact here.

    Already a Food Program sponsor? Fantastic! If you are looking for an easier, more streamlined way to process your claims, Minute Menu Systems is the solution for you. Minute Menu is the number one CACFP management software program for food program sponsors. We improve the quality of child nutrition by ensuring all CACFP participants have the best software available. Click here to get started.

    Related: See how Minute Menu Systems touched the lives of one million children in a single month!

    We encourage you to share the videos below on social media, with your coworkers, with your providers, etc. These videos reflect the importance of the CACFP and child care in America. Be a voice for the CACFP!

    [/fusion_text][fusion_builder_row_inner][fusion_builder_column_inner type=”1_1″ layout=”1_1″ spacing=”” center_content=”no” hover_type=”none” link=”” min_height=”” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” class=”” id=”” background_color=”” background_image=”” background_position=”left top” background_repeat=”no-repeat” border_size=”0″ border_color=”” border_style=”solid” padding_top=”” padding_right=”” padding_bottom=”” padding_left=”” dimension_margin=”” animation_type=”” animation_direction=”left” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_offset=”” last=”no” border_position=”all” element_content=””][/fusion_builder_column_inner][/fusion_builder_row_inner][fusion_separator style_type=”default” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” class=”” id=”” sep_color=”” top_margin=”” bottom_margin=”” border_size=”” icon=”” icon_circle=”” icon_circle_color=”” width=”” alignment=”center” /][fusion_builder_row_inner][fusion_builder_column_inner type=”1_1″ layout=”1_1″ spacing=”” center_content=”no” hover_type=”none” link=”” min_height=”” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” class=”” id=”” background_color=”” background_image=”” background_position=”left top” background_repeat=”no-repeat” border_size=”0″ border_color=”” border_style=”solid” padding_top=”” padding_right=”” padding_bottom=”” padding_left=”” dimension_margin=”” animation_type=”” animation_direction=”left” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_offset=”” last=”no” border_position=”all” element_content=””][/fusion_builder_column_inner][/fusion_builder_row_inner][fusion_youtube id=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtuL4BYv9zw” alignment=”” width=”” height=”” autoplay=”false” api_params=”” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” class=”” /][fusion_builder_row_inner][fusion_builder_column_inner type=”1_1″ layout=”1_1″ spacing=”” center_content=”no” hover_type=”none” link=”” min_height=”” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” class=”” id=”” background_color=”” background_image=”” background_position=”left top” background_repeat=”no-repeat” border_size=”0″ border_color=”” border_style=”solid” padding_top=”” padding_right=”” padding_bottom=”” padding_left=”” dimension_margin=”” animation_type=”” animation_direction=”left” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_offset=”” last=”no” border_position=”all” element_content=””][/fusion_builder_column_inner][/fusion_builder_row_inner][fusion_youtube id=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uewBWqPNnz8″ alignment=”” width=”” height=”” autoplay=”false” api_params=”” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” class=”” /][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]

  • National Association for Family Child Care and Minute Menu Systems Partner to Promote Quality and Professionalism in Family Child Care

    Each and every weekday, over a million of America’s children receive child care from one of over 250,000 family child care providers across the United States. The National Association for Family Child Care (NAFCC), a nonprofit advocacy organization dedicated to promoting quality child care by strengthening the profession of family child care, has worked for years to help these caregivers offer the highest quality of care to the next generation of Americans. Minute Menu Systems, the leading provider of quality, low-cost business management software for family child care providers, has now partnered with NAFCC to further promote this mission.

    Minute Menu offers Minute Menu Kids, an on-line software system that helps child care providers plan activities designed to spur child development, plan nutritious meals, prepare their taxes as home-based businesses, help parents pay via automated direct deposit, and give parents daily or weekly reports on the status of their children. Now, Minute Menu will also encourage existing users to join the NAFCC for ongoing professional development – including help pursuing a Child Development Associates degree. Additionally, NAFCC is able to offer Minute Menu Kids at a discount to all of its members. By raising awareness of the tools available to family child care providers for professional development and business management, these two agencies hope their partnership will improve the quality child care in the US.

    The potential impact of this partnership on the larger child care community is considerable. The National Association for Family Child Care (NAFCC) is the national leader of a network of state and local associations that work across the country to promote quality family child care by giving child care providers access to educational and professional resources and by providing the opportunity for independent accreditation—a key indicator for parents of quality child care. Through its own national membership and via special relationships with the many regional and local associations, the NAFCC agenda reaches thousands of providers around the United States. Minute Menu’s software is currently in use by more than 100,000 family child care providers around the country for daily recordkeeping.

    “We’re not aware of any previous partnership between technology and advocacy that has the potential scale of this agreement,” said Natalie Clark, Chief Financial Officer for Minute Menu Systems. “It’s possible that, through the combined efforts of NAFCC and Minute Menu, we’ll reach more than half of all the family child care homes in the US, with the goal of helping them improve the quality of care for the children in those homes.”

    Through this partnership, NAFCC members receive a 10% discount on subscriptions to the Minute Menu Kids Pro child care business management software—which was designed by child care experts to specifically meet the needs of family child care providers. Additionally, Minute Menu will be adding NAFCC-specific resources for providers within its Minute Menu Kids software. Minute Menu will also provide sponsorship for the 19th Annual NAFCC conference “Defining New Horizons: Charting a Course to Quality Early Learning” to be held June 25-27, 2009, in Baltimore, Maryland.