Who are the staff?
The Minnesota Licensed Family Child Care Association
administrates the only food program owned and operated by a non-profit
organization of family child care providers.
The Staff...
| Katy Chase |
Director |
e-mail
|
| Cathy Johnson |
Nutritionist |
e-mail
|
| Jean Makela |
Accounting Clerk |
e-mail
|
| Lori Schmidt |
Operations Coordinator |
e-mail
|
| Juli Youngberg |
Representative Coordinator |
e-mail
|
Food Program Reps:
|
Kristy Harris |
Jodi Little |
|
Roxane Hoverson |
Pam Struwve |
|
Susan Masterjohn |
Penny Shepherd |
The Spokes"moose":
Milton the Moose
What is the CACFP?
The Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP)
is a United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) program designed to improve
the diets of children. It is an extension of the School Lunch Act. The CACFP
benefits providers by providing them with nutrition training and monetary
reimbursement to help defray food costs. In Minnesota, the CACFP is administered
by the Minnesota Department of Children, Families, and Learning (DCFL) and a
nonprofit sponsoring organization like the MLFCCA.
Why
should I join the CACFP?
|
Look
at the following example:
|
CACFP from a Business Income Perspective
(Example uses rates as of July 2005)
Tier I
Tier II
Breakfast
$ 1.06
$ .39
Lunch/Supper
$ 1.96
$ 1.18
Snacks
$ .58
$ .16
Totals
$ 3.60
$ 1.73
Tier I Example:
Tier II Example:
6 children x $3.60
=
$
21.60
6 children x $1.73 =
$ 10.38
5 days per week
=
$108.00
5 days per week
= $ 51.90
4 weeks per month=
$432.00 4 weeks per month =
$207.60
|
|
Would you say no to
$432.00 a month additional income? Even if you were Tier II, would you say
not to $207.60 per month? According to Tom Copeland, Redleaf National
Institute, the average amount of time per month for Food Program record
keeping is 1-2 hours. Even at Tier II rates, you would earn almost $100.00
per hour for record keeping that you would be required to do anyway. Rule 2
standards require providers to keep records of menus and foods served to
children to document that nutritional guidelines have been met.
Sometimes providers are concerned that the Child and Adult Care Food
Program reimbursement raises their income and the tax liability or they are
concerned about losing the cost of food served as a tax deduction. The Food
Program does increase your taxable income, and the reimbursement also
decreases the amount you can deduct as food expense on your taxes. However,
providers only pay a percentage of income as taxes. This means that you
lose only a part of this additional income to taxes. A person does not
turn down his or her paycheck because a percentage of it goes to pay taxes.
This is the same principle. You may lose a portion of this income as a
tax liability, but providers keep the majority of it as additional income
for their family. |
I want to join the MLFCCA food
program...
How Do I Benefit? With No cost to you, you receive:
-
Cash reimbursement for serving
nutritious meals and snacks
MLFCCA Food Program
is a source of valuable FREE training designed to provide nutritional
information and serve as a resource to providers in the day to day realities of
meeting the needs of children in family child care. These trainings also
provide credit toward your licensing requirements. Current Training
information
HERE
FREE record keeping web-based program (C-K KIDS software) for those
with internet access. With C-K KIDS software, you can doing daily planning, cycle menus, certificates, accounting/bookkeeping for taxes, and much more--NOT TO MENTION, get rid of those bubbles!! and electronically submit your food claims. Join
the MLFCCA food program to use this great
program and simplify your record keeping and help with...
Menu preparation
Meal counts / attendance /
capacity records
Tracking income and expenses related
to your family child care business
Parent communication regarding meals,
snacks, and daily activities of children in care.
Business records for each child and
family in care.
One of the most significant marketing concepts providers can use
to build relationships with parents using a child care is trust. By
participating on the MLFCCA Child and Adult Care Food Program, providers have one
more person to visit the child care home (3 times per year). Providers
also agree to meet nutritional guidelines in the preparation and service of
foods provided to children in care. By opening your home to one more
person for these monitoring visits, parents have even more assurance that a
certain quality of care is being provided. Also, you have agreed to serve
foods and snacks that meet certain nutritional guidelines. New parents
seeking child care need these reassurances to be comfortable in a child care
arrangement and you are offering them just a little more of what they need to
arrive at that comfort level.
The MLFCCA Food Program does all these and more...
Cycle menu
forms with suggested meals and snacks.
End-of-the-year income reports showing total monthly reimbursements.
A direct
deposit option for easier and quicker access to monthly payments.
A
nutritionist on staff to provide help with nutrition and food safety issues.
In-home
lessons with fun ideas for the children in your care.
Access to
online Calendar-Keeper
Help with
picky eaters
Great ideas
for new recipes.
Creative ways
to introduce new foods.
Free fun
activities for the children in your care.
Accurate
information on new food trends.
A great
resource of our monthly newsletter, NUTRI-NOTES
I want to join the MLFCCA food program...
How Do I Participate?
Contact MLFCCA at 651-636-1989 or 1-800-652-9704 or fill out our
online form.
Serve meals and snacks that meet USDA requirements
Keep daily records of the meals and snacks served to the children in your care.
Tell me more
about the C-K KIDS program:
Provider Benefits of C-K KIDS Child Care Software:
-
Automates the food program claiming
process, which saves time and money.
-
Easy to learn and use with simple
"point and click" features and a detailed online pictorial user's manual
-
A comprehensive tool that helps a
provider manage ALL aspects of his/her business.
Features of C-K KIDS Software:
| |
Web based -
Our entire program is web-based
and accessible via the Internet
|
| |
Meal Planning
– Simply highlight the meal from the
CACFP approved meal list and click the date to schedule. Plan one day, one
week, one month or any desired time. Use meal count check-off forms,
pre-planned menus, create new meals, add foods and ingredients, manage
infant meals and create cycle menus all with a few keystrokes! |
| |
Meal Attendance
– Simply click on a child’s attendance,
then click the meal name and the child is marked for that meal – or use the
“check all” button. |
| |
Electronic Claim Submission
– Providers can submit their monthly
claims with the click of a button via the Internet. |
| |
Built-in Training
-
Providers are reminded of the food program
rules as they create and schedule meals.
|
| |
Activity Planning
– Plan all childcare activities hourly,
daily, weekly or monthly. Information is automatically added to each
child’s Daily Report. |
| |
Daily Reporting
-
Quickly creates reports that can be given to
parents each day. The report outlines meals, books, TV time, naps, bottles,
diapers and individual notes, etc.
|
| |
Financial Management
– Track and report the income and
expenses related to running a childcare business. Creates tax reports and
invoices too. |
| |
Child Information
– Manage all information related to each
child such as emergency contacts, medical information, insurance, birthdays,
special diets, tier levels and much, much more. |
| |
Facility Information
– Includes all the information about
your daycare including a profile to share with prospective and current
parents.
|
| |
Chart and Certificate Maker
– Create charts that help Web KIDS set
goals and measure their progress. Reward success with a “Certificate of
Achievement” or “Congratulations” certificate.
|
| |
Proven Success -
There are over 4,000 providers using Web KIDS
software! |
| |
Automatic Validation
– Web KIDS software automatically
validates meal credibility, child’s attendance and license requirements at
the provider level – with immediate feedback. For Sponsors, the automated
review process checks menus, meal counts, identifies invalid entries,
handles exception and disallow codes, maintains a master food list and much
more.
|
| |
System Specifications:
-
The only technological
requirement for a provider to use C-K KIDS is an internet connection!
-
SkyHill's web-based support
utility (WBSU) is Sponsor software used to receive, review and process the
provider food claims. This program is maintained on our web server and is
accessed by the Sponsor via the Internet. There is no software to load on
the Sponsor's computer.
-
Our software used password
protected and SSL secure ftp sites.
-
Each of our installations can
be custom designed to allow maximum adaptability to existing Sponsor
Systems
|
| |
Technical
Support and Customer Service
– Knowledgeable, responsive and friendly
support via our website, email or phone. Check out our online Technical
Support Wizard and FAQ at www.SkyHill.com.
We also provide an online HelpDesk for answering, submitting and tracking
provider questions.
I want to join the MLFCCA food program... |
REIMBURSEMENT RATES
You will be reimbursed each month for meals and snacks which meet USDA requirements and are served to the children enrolled in your care. Most of the time, providers are already serving nutritious foods and need to make minimal changes in order for their meals and snacks to meet USDA food program guidelines.
There is a two-tier reimbursement rate system for family child care providers participating in the Child & Adult Care Food
Program (CACFP). You will receive either Tier I or Tier II rates for meals or snacks depending on the location of your child care home or your
household size and income or the income of the families in your child care.
Effective July 1, 2008 - June 30, 2009
CACFP
Reimbursement Rates
For Meals Served in Day Care Homes
Per Meal Rates in U.S. Dollars
All States
(Except Alaska and Hawaii)
|
Type of Meal Served |
Tier
I |
Tier
II |
|
Breakfast |
1. 17 |
0. 43 |
|
Lunch and Supper |
2.18 |
1. 31 |
|
Snack |
0. 65 |
0.1 8 |
I want to join the MLFCCA food program...
Download necessary
CACFP forms (Microsoft Word):
Out of necessary forms for the CACFP? You can download copies of the most
common forms here:
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