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The Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) is a federal program that ensures children and adults have access to nutritious meals and snacks by providing reimbursements for nutritious meals and snacks at participating child care centers, day care homes, and adult day care centers.
Additionally, the CACFP provides reimbursements for meals served to children and youth participating in afterschool care programs, children residing in emergency shelters, and adults older than 60 or living with a disability and enrolled in day care facilities.
The National CACFP Sponsors Association (NCA) provides support and resources for the community and others that administer, organize, and participate in nutrition programs.
The CACFP provides Spanish-language resources through the NCA website.
These translated resources allow people, notably Latinos, access a multitude of nutrition education resources, including menu planning, tip sheets, activities for children, and more!
“Nutrition education is a vital part of a comprehensive health education program and empowers children with knowledge and skills to make healthy food and beverage choices,” according to the CDC.
Let’s look further into what resources are available and how they can be beneficial for Latino-focused organizations, partners, and caregivers.
Latinos and Nutrition Education
Many Latinos suffer disproportionately from chronic diseases like diabetes and obesity.
Many factors can contribute to these diseases, including a lack of access to healthy food, nutrition and food insecurity, and nutrition education issues.
“Improving nutrition literacy is a critical target for improving overall health for the Latino population,” according to a 2017 study on nutrition literacy for Spanish-speaking Latinos.
With this in mind, CACFP’s educational resources provides important bilingual information on nutrition and healthy food.
“Providing education, information on legislation, regulation and advocacy issues, and resources to support the essential work of the CACFP community who ensure that every child has access to nutritious food year-round,” according to the National CACFP Sponsors Association website.
Available CACFP Resources
Through the CACFP, families can find everyday education in English and Spanish, including:
There’s also a meals pattern area with tools in English and Spanish, including:
- Crediting Fruits in the Child Nutrition Programs Tip Sheet
- Crediting Fluid Milk in the Child Nutrition Programs Tip Sheet
- Crediting Meats/Meat Alternates in the Child Nutrition Program Tip Sheet
Activity pages in English and Spanish are also available, including:
Through the CACFP website’s learning center, you can find webinars on various topics, such as program administration, financial management, and summer food.
While there are several free resources for the CACFP community, additional resources are available for NCA members via memberships.
Find all resources related to nutrition and nutrition education and additional information through the NCA website.
Promoting Health Equity for All
Access to nutritious food and nutrition education contributes to overall health.
Have you ever thought about the overall health of your community?
Explore what that looks like with Salud America!’s Health Equity Report Card.
Discover local, auto-generated data that helps visualize and explore local inequities in topics like food, housing, education, healthcare, and more.
See how your county compares to other counties and states across the nation.
Share the results with local leaders and health organizations to advocate for change and start important conversations about health equity in your area.
By The Numbers
1
Supermarket
for every Latino neighborhood, compared to 3 for every non-Latino neighborhood
