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.