In this section we will be discussing the Sponsor and Site Eligibility Requirements of the At-Risk Afterschool Meal Program. To be eligible to participate in the At-Risk Afterschool meals component of CACFP either independently or through a sponsor, an afterschool program must: Be organized primarily to provide care for children after school or on the weekends, holidays, or school vacations during the regular school year (an at-risk afterschool center may not claim meals or snacks during the summer, unless it is located in the attendance area of a school operating on a year-round calendar); Provide organized regularly scheduled activities (i.e., in a structured and supervised environment); Include education or enrichment activities; and Be located in an eligible area.
Programs must provide educational or enrichment activities in an organized, structured and supervised environment. Although there are no specific list for the types of educational and enrichment activities that a program can offer, examples include, but are not limited to, arts and crafts, homework assistance, life skills, remedial education, organized fitness activities, etc. Organizations should contact our office for assistance in determining if an activity is eligible. Note: there is no requirement that all children receiving meals participate in the offered activities. However, they should be able to participate in the activities if they choose to do so. Institutions may contract with another organizations, including a for-profit entity to provide enrichment or educational activities for the afterschool program. However the sponsor must retain administrative and fiscal responsibility for the meal service.
Organized athletic programs that only offer interscholastic or community level competitive sports (for example, youth sports leagues such as “Babe Ruth” and “Pop Warner” baseball leagues, community soccer and football leagues, area swim teams, etc.) may not meet the requirements of an approved afterschool activity. Students who are part of school sports teams and clubs can receive afterschool snacks or meals as part of a broad, overarching educational or enrichment program, but the program cannot be limited to a sports team as participation in the teams are not open to all students. Additionally, afterschool programs that include supervised athletic activity may participate as long as they are “open to all” and do not limit membership for reasons other than space, security, or licensing requirements. For example, an afterschool police athletic league program that uses sports and recreational activities to provide constructive opportunities for community youth could be approved to participate. At-risk afterschool programs that are designed to meet the special needs of enrolled children or that have other limiting factors may be eligible to participate. These could include programs for children who have learning disabilities or for those who are academically gifted. Other targeted programs may be eligible as well.
Sites must operate after school day ends. This is based on the schedule of the qualifying school and students. For example the school day may end earlier for ½ day kindergarteners, which would allow them to receive an afterschool snack or meal earlier than other students that may still be in class. Meals may be served on weekends, holidays, and vacations during the normal school year. Meals served during the a traditional summer break are ineligible. Meals during the summer may be claimed if the qualifying school operates on a year round calendar.
There are other options available to programs that want to operate during the summer months in order to provide year round service. The Summer Food Service Program and Seamless Summer Option are other USDA program that is designed to provide meals to free and reduced students during the summer months when regular school meals are not available. The Summer Food Service Program provides a great opportunity to provide a year round partnership between community organizations, not to mention year round employment for program staff. The Seamless Summer Option is an administratively streamlined version of the Summer Food Service program that is open to schools already participating on the National School Lunch Program. There are similar program requirements between the At-risk and summer meals programs. Before applying to become a summer sponsor it is important to check with the our office, or on the USDA Capacity Builder to see if there is already an existing summer sponsor operating in your area.” If you are interested in becoming a summer meal sponsor please contact our office as soon as possible. We recommend starting the application process around January or February.
At-risk afterschool programs must meet the organization type and applicable licensing requirements above to be considered an eligible organization. Eligible organizations are those that: Meet State and/or local licensing or health and safety standards. Are operated by public agencies, tax-exempt nonprofit organizations, for-profit organizations that serve a low income population, or are currently participating in another Federal program requiring nonprofit status. A for-profit child care center is eligible through the operation of its traditional child care center if it operates an afterschool program and at least 25 percent of the children qualify for free or reduces prices meals or receiving title 20 benefits. The 25 percent threshold is based on the center’s enrollment or the licensed capacity, whichever is less. It is calculated during the calendar month preceding application for Program participation. In determining a for-profit center’s eligibility for at-risk afterschool meals program reimbursement, only the enrollment/licensed capacity of the traditional child care component of the center may be considered in calculating whether the center meets the 25 percent criterion.
While the at-risk component of CACFP is primarily geared towards non-traditional child care centers such as drop in afterschool programs, traditional child care centers already participating in CACFP also may participate. In this situation, children would attend the center after their school day or on weekends, holidays, or school vacation. Children who do not attend school would continue to participate in the traditional CACFP meal service provided by the center, even during the “afterschool” hours. Centers operating both the traditional and at-risk components of the CACFP may only claim a total of two meals and one snack, or one meal and two snacks, per child per day, including the afterschool snack and meal. [7 CFR 226.17a(k)].
To be eligible to participate in the at-risk afterschool meals component of CACFP, a program must be located in an eligible area. This means that the site is located in the attendance area of a public school (an elementary, middle, or high school) where at least 50 percent of the students are eligible for free or reduced price meals under the NSLP. This is referred to as “area eligibility.” Our office has current area eligibility data for all public schools to help determine if a site is area eligible. Only data from appropriate neighborhood school(s) may be used to establish a site’s area eligibility; district wide data may not be used. The data used to determine area eligibility comes from what is call the Free and Reduced Price Survey or the October Survey which is also available on the State Agency website. As an example lets say you know that your site falls within the enrollment boundary of Geneva Elementary in Alpine School District and you want to see what the free and reduced percentage for that school was on the last October Survey.
First you would go to the Utah State Board of Education’s Child Nutrition Homepage. Then select the year you wish to look at. For new sites the most recent free and reduced survey must be used. If you click on the link it will open up the an excel document. Alpine school district is the first district listed. You will notice that in this example 80% of the students attending Geneva Elementary qualified to receive free or reduced meals.
Let’s take a look at what happens when you have overlapping school boundaries. In the above example the site is located in both Washington Elementary and Lincoln Jr. high’s enrollment boundaries. This site would qualify using Lincoln Jr. High’s free and reduced survey information. In this example the sponsor would like to operate in two sites. Indicated here site X and site Y. While site X would qualify site Y would not since it lies outside of the enrollment boundaries of Lincoln Jr. High. Free and reduced percentages cannot be averaged between sites and district wide percentages cannot be used. So even though when you take the average between Washington and Lincoln Jr and this equals out to be greater than 50% free and reduced site Y is still not eligible to participate.
Area eligibility based on school data as described above is the ONLY method for establishing site eligibility. Census data may not be used to determine area eligibility. Sites also may not collect participant income information to establish eligibility. If an afterschool program is not area eligible, it may qualify to participate in CACFP as an Outside School Hours Care Center (OSHCC). OSHCCs, like at-risk afterschool care centers, provide organized nonresidential child care services to children during hours outside of school. Please see attachment at the end of the USDA handbook for information about the differences between Outside School Hours and At-risk Afterschool Care Centers.
Because most private schools (and some charter and magnet schools) do not have defined attendance areas, generally private school free and reduced price enrollment data may not be used to determine area eligibility. However, if an At-Risk Afterschool Program site is located in a private school, then that site may use the free and reduced price enrollment data for that private school, or free and reduced price enrollment data for the public school attendance areas in which the private school is located, to qualify as an area eligible site. In areas that do not have specific assigned schools but allow children to enroll in any of the area schools, At-Risk Afterschool care Programs located in school buildings should use the free and reduced price enrollment data from the school they are located in to determine area eligibility. Our office can work with you on a case-by-case basis to determine the area eligibility of At-Risk Afterschool Programs operating in non-school sites in areas with unassigned attendance areas.
Emergency Shelters are not required to prove area eligibility. Emergency shelters that operate Afterschool Programs with education or enrichment activities for homeless children and youth during the school year may participate regardless to location. Once an area is approved as eligible this eligibility lasts for 5 years from the approval date. It is recommended that sites below 60 percent free and reduced renew their eligibility every year.
At-risk afterschool programs may claim reimbursement only for meals and snacks served to children who participate in an approved afterschool program and who are age 18 or under at the start of the school year. Programs may be either drop-in or enrolled. Reimbursement also may be claimed for participants who turn age 19 during the school year. There is no age limit for persons with disabilities. Federal law has no minimum age for At-Risk participants. Meals and snacks served to children who are enrolled in preschool, Head Start, Even Start, etc., and who are participating in an eligible Afterschool Program are eligible for reimbursement. Although the At-Risk Program is available to children of all ages, there is no requirement that each facility must serve the full age range of eligible children. For example, a Program could operate at a high school and serve only high school age students.
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