LATEST NEWS

On August 25, CACFP Roundtable met with the White House Office of Management and Budget as USDA drafts its proposed CACFP meal pattern rule. We led with what providers, operators, sponsors, and state staff told us in our "Getting Ready to Comment" survey: 72% say compliance costs already outpace reimbursement, and 70% want funding tied to any new requirements. Here's what we shared with OMB, and why the survey is still open.

This session, From Insight to Impact - How to Comment, was the last of the CACFP Roundtable's Growing Our Voice series. In this session, we talked about what it looks like to provide public comment, what it means, and the importance of a large volume of comments - especially unique comments. Summary You can watch the 30 minute recording here. Slides can be accessed here. Highly recommend taking the time to listen at minute 15:11 when Lindsay Datlow, PhD, R.D., explains what

Today, the CACFP Roundtable shared community experiences that have been gathered through a survey and talking with CACFP community members. You can review the 30 minute recording here. Bottom Line (so far): Operators, state agencies, and sponsors are excited to serve healthy, nutritious meals. That is why they work so hard to be part of this program. They say yes to healthy meals — and they also say: we need time, we need funds, and we need flexibility, and these changes need

Today we came together to discuss how what we think might be in the anticipated meal pattern proposed rule would impact the Child and Adult Care Food Program. Review the 30-minute recording here. We provided a quick overview of the initial survey results to get a dialogue started. The top 5 themes that came through the survey were: More time More Funding Flexibility Clear Definitions Realistic Expectations about What People Will Eat During the discussion, the community shared

Yesterday, we came together to talk about what a proposed rule is and what it means to make public comment as we gear up to educate USDA FNA about the ground level operations of CACFP when the anticipated meal pattern proposed rule is published. The biggest takeaway? Your unique voice matters within the CACFP community's unified message. Watch the 30 minute recording to: Learn about the policy "lever" we're going to pull with the public comment on the proposed rule An overvie

Today, Lindsay Datlow, PhD, RD, Senior Vice President, Caprock Strategies and Jodi Kuhn, Director of Regulatory Compliance Kindercare, Learning Companies and President of the National CACFP Forum, joined us for our first introductory session as we unpack and get ready to use our experiences and public voice as the administration considers changes to the CACFP meal pattern through the proposed rule-making process. Thank you, Lindsay and Jodi, for volunteering your time to help

Updated 8/24/2026 Review the recordings and resources here. Register Now for Growing Our Voice: Powering Up on the Proposed USDA Meal Pattern Rule. Growing Our Voice is a recurring learning series designed by the CACFP Roundtable to help our community understand, navigate, and confidently respond to the anticipated proposed rule that will change the meal pattern for the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP). Each session will focus on easily digestible information to help