Nutrition Policy Institute's Kassandra Bacon will present with CACFP Roundtable's Samantha Kay-Daleiden Marshall at the 2024 Annual CACFP Conference at Universal Studios, CA. The conference focuses on the growth of the Child and Adult Care Food Program, commonly known as CACFP. On October 8, 2:30pm-3:30pm PT, a workshop, “Impacts of COVID-19 Changes to Meal and Snack Reimbursements on Family Child Care Home Providers, Children and Families” will highlight research by NPI's Kassandra Bacon, Danielle Lee, Celeste Felix, Lorrene Ritchie, UC Berkeley's Susana Matias, and CACFP Roundtable's Samantha Kay-Daleiden Marshall and Elyse Homel Vitale. Their research examines the effects of both higher CACFP reimbursement rates for family child care homes during COVID-19 and the return to lower rates post-COVID-19. They will share results from surveys and interviews with California-based providers and sponsors on the nutritional quality of meals and snacks served in child care homes, and food security for child care providers and families. The workshop will engage CACFP stakeholders to develop proposed policy solutions based on study findings.
- Author: Brianna Aguayo Villalon
- Editor: Danielle Lee
- Editor: Lorrene Ritchie
The federal Child and Adult Care Food Program, commonly known as CACFP, provides tiered reimbursements to family childcare homes to ensure children in low-income communities have access to healthy meals. To address heightened food insecurity during the COVID-19 pandemic, tiers were eliminated and all participating family childcare home providers received increased CACFP reimbursement rates. Nutrition Policy Institute researchers examined the perceived impacts of increased reimbursements on CACFP participation and challenges anticipated with the reinstatement of tiered rates after the pandemic from surveys completed by 518 California providers. Results showed that the temporary higher reimbursement rates lowered out-of-pocket food costs, were more adequate than rates prior to COVID-19, and supported greater perceived variety, quality, and healthfulness of foods served, especially for tier 2 providers who previously received the lowest reimbursement. Removal of the tiered reimbursements may help improve child nutrition and address the rise of nutrition-related chronic conditions. The study was published in the Nutrients journal by NPI researchers Lorrene Ritchie, Kassandra Bacon, Celeste Felix, and Danielle Lee, Samantha Marshall and Elyse Homel Vitale with the CACFP Roundtable, and Susana Matias with the Department of Nutritional Sciences and Toxicology at the University of California, Berkeley.
Nutrition Policy Institute Director Dr. Lorrene Ritchie presents at the Society for Nutrition Education and Behavior, SNEB, 2024 international conference. This year's international conference, themed “Understanding Foodways: Learning, Growing, and Sustaining,” will highlight the reasons why we eat the foods we eat and the impacts of those choices on ourselves and our communities. The SNEB conference takes place at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville and through a virtual livestream from July 29th through August 1st, 2024. Lorrene Ritchie participates in a session on August 1, 3:30-4:30 p.m. ET titled “Food Waste Reduction Efforts: The Intersection of Food Ways, Climate Change, and Human Health,” along with Sara Elkbakib and Yu Meng. Additionally, Ritchie presents a poster on July 31, 4:30-5:30 p.m. ET titled “Boosting the Benefits of WIC: Exploring Participant Perspectives from the 2023 Multi-State WIC Survey;” co-authored by NPI's Danielle Lee and Celeste Felix as well as Georgia Machell, and Loan Kim. Ritchie is one member of the team for an additional poster presentation on July 31, 4:30-5:30 p.m. EST titled “Child and Adult Care Food Program Meal Reimbursement Rates and Program Participation by Family Child Care Homes in California,” presented by Susana Matias of UC Berkeley's Nutritional Sciences and Toxicology Department, and co-authored by NPI's Danielle Lee, Kassandra Bacon, and Celeste Felix, and CACFP Roundtable's Samantha Kay-Daleiden Marshall and Elyse Homel Vitale. Furthermore, Ritchie gives an oral presentation on July 31, 2:30-3:15 p.m. ET titled “Impact of Increased Child and Adult Care Food Program Reimbursement Rates for Family Child Care Home Providers in California,” co-authored by NPI's Danielle Lee, Kassandra Bacon, and Celeste Felix, CACFP Roundtable's Samantha Kay-Daleiden Marshall and Elyse Homel Vitale, and UC Berkeley's Susana Matias. Lastly, Ritchie speaks on July 31, 3:30-4:30 p.m. ET and a subsequent invited poster presentation on August 1, 4:30-5:30 p.m. ET titled “Transition to freshly prepared school meals: impact of meal appeal student participation, intake, food and packaging waste & school finance,” co-authored by NPI's Celeste Felix, Danielle Lee, and Wendi Gosliner, as well as UC Berkeley School of Public Health's Hannah Thompson, Caroline Nguyen, and Kris Madsen.
The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children—commonly known as WIC—is celebrating 50 years of improving the health of participants, including those who are pregnant, new parents, infants, and children under five. The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 provided the US Department of Agriculture with $390 million, available through FY 2024, to carry out outreach, innovation, and program modernization efforts to increase participation and redemption of benefits for both the WIC program and the WIC Farmers' Market Nutrition Program. The USDA contracted with Mathematica and their partners, including the Nutrition Policy Institute, to design and implement an evaluation of these projects being implemented across 89 WIC State agencies and 51 Farmers Market Nutrition Program State agencies. The evaluation will assess whether the modernization projects being implemented are associated with increases in enrollment, participation, retention, and redemption of benefits; improvements in participant experience; and reduced disparities in program delivery. The five-year project began in September 2023. NPI research project team members will include Lorrene Ritchie, Danielle Lee, Celeste Felix, KC Whitsett and Reka Vasicsek.
Over 38,000 participants in the federal Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, commonly known as WIC, completed a satisfaction survey in summer of 2023. Conducted across 21 participating WIC state agencies in all US Department of Agriculture administrative regions, the survey showed high satisfaction with the WIC program and that participants feel respected, valued and included by WIC staff. The hybrid WIC services introduced during the pandemic were successful, with two-in-three using in-person services, over half using remote services and nearly all finding it is easy to schedule appointments. The top reasons for WIC participation were the fruits and vegetables in the WIC food package followed by other foods and the education and support from WIC staff. Participants expressed interest in using WIC benefits at farmers markets and requested expanded fruit and vegetable options in states that don't authorize canned or frozen options. The survey illuminated challenges participants experience when shopping for WIC foods, reasons for not buying all their WIC foods, and their desire for expanded shopping options. Results align with the recently finalized WIC food package changes. Findings are available in the report “2023 WIC Multi-State Participant Satisfaction Survey” published online on April 9, 2024. The survey was also cited in an article in The New York Times, "Food Aid Program for Mothers and Children Will Provide More Fruits and Vegetables" and another article in NBC News, "Low-income families have more to spend on fruit and veggies thanks to new WIC rule," both published on April 9, 2024. The project was conducted by Lorrene Ritchie, Danielle Lee, Celeste Felix, Ken Hecht and Hannah Thompson from the Nutrition Policy Institute, Loan Kim, Theresa Tran, Claire Burton and Amanda Kiang from Pepperdine University and Georgia Machell from the National WIC Association. The project was funded by the National WIC Association through a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.