Child and Adult Care Food Program

The Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) is a federally funded program which is administered and funded by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Food and Nutrition Service (FNS). The purpose of the program is to ensure that eligible children and adults who attend qualifying non-residential care facilities receive nutritious meals.

To accomplish this purpose, CACFP provides reimbursement to qualified caregivers for meals and supplements (snacks) served to participants. While the FNS develops the regulations and establishes the policies needed to conduct the program, state agencies are responsible for administering the program on the State level and for assisting sponsors on the local level.

Eligibility

1. Child Care Centers: Public or private nonprofit child care centers, Head Start programs, and some for-profit* centers which are licensed or approved to provide day care may serve meals and snacks to infants and children through CACFP.
2. Family Day Care Homes: CACFP provides reimbursement for meals and snacks served to small groups of children receiving nonresidential day care in licensed or approved private homes. A family or group day care home must sign an agreement with a sponsoring organization to participate in CACFP. The sponsoring organization organizes training, conducts monitoring, and helps with planning menus and filling out reimbursement forms.
3. At-Risk Afterschool Programs: Afterschool care programs in low-income areas can participate in CACFP by providing free snacks and suppers to children under 18 years of age.
4. Homeless Shelters: Emergency shelters which provide residential and food services to homeless families with children may participate in CACFP. Unlike most other CACFP facilities, a shelter does not have to be licensed to provide day care.
5. Adult Day Care Centers: Public, private nonprofit, and some for-profit* adult day care facilities which provide structured, comprehensive services to adults 60 years of age and over as well as functionally impaired, nonresident adults may participate in CACFP.
6. Outside-School-Hours Care Centers

CACFP Application Process

1. Visit the NC DHHS website to learn more about the CACFP Eligibility Requirements and the Application Process and for more detailed instructions.
2. Take Is CACFP for me?
3. Complete the Prescreen: The prescreen is a set of online questions to determine if your organization is eligible to participate. Once complete, and if eligible, Prequalification information will be requested.
4. Pass the Prequalification: If your organization passes through the prescreen, you will be prompted to provide additional information for Prequalification. The State agency will check through the prequalification information and, once the review is complete, grant access to trainings.
5. Complete required Trainings: A link to register for training is provided after your organization passes the prequalification requirements. There are at least three live webinars to complete: CACFP Basics, NC CACFP CONNECTS, and Budget trainings before starting the application, in addition to mini webinars that are required before the completed application can be approved.
6. Request Access to NC CACFP CONNECTS: A link to access request is provided after training is complete. Access request requires an online request in the system as well as a completed access request form.
7. Submit the Online Application in NC CACFP CONNECTS: After access is granted, complete the online application and submit the required documents in NC CACFP CONNECTS which will be reviewed for approval by the State agency.