About the CCNP

The Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) began as a pilot study in the 60’s and became fully funded and accessible to all by the late 1970s. The programs are authorized under the national School Lunch Act of 1946, the child Nutrition Act of 1966, and the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996. The CACFP is a part of the same department that furnishes school lunch, summer food program, and the after school food program. The program is run nationally by the Food and Nutrition Service, an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).

The purpose is to provide quality meals to growing children. It has been proven that children who receive good quality, nutritious meals in sufficient quantities from birth through school age begin school with a distinct advantage over those children who have not had such meals available. The children learn faster, retain the information longer and have fewer behavioral problems. The CACFP also allows daycare providers to provide these kinds of meals to their daycare children at no additional cost to them.

Child with lunch tray