1 Year Later: NCA’s Commitments During the White House Conference
September 28, 2023
One year ago today, on September 28, 2022, President Biden hosted the first White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health in over a half century. At the conference, the administration called on stakeholders to make commitments towards ending hunger and reducing diet-related diseases. NCA answered this call for action, writing a letter committing to raising awareness of the CACFP.
Power of the Food Program
NCA committed to an outreach campaign targeted at providers who are not participating in the CACFP to provide the necessary educational tools and resources that providers need to join the program.
NCA achieved this goal by hosting a one-day virtual event called Power of the Food Program. During the event 11 webinars were made available to over 400 child and adult care providers who were interested in joining the CACFP. In addition, NCA awarded scholarships that allowed 143 providers to attend the Power of the Food Program events for free.
National CACFP Week
NCA committed to expanding and enhancing National CACFP Week.
NCA achieved this goal by hosting five webinars throughout CACFP Week focused on:
- Community: The CACFP community works to ensure that all children have access to healthy foods.
- Advocacy: Together we can raise awareness of how the CACFP works to combat hunger. Learn what you can do to promote the CACFP and advocate for the program.
- Children: Children receive healthy and nutritious meals through the CACFP. Educate children and parents about the CACFP with fun activities and communication tools.
- Food Program: The CACFP helps children learn healthy eating habits that contribute to better health outcomes later in life. The CACFP is an indicator of quality care.
- Participate: Hundreds of thousands of people participate in the CACFP administering the program or caring for children and adults. Celebrate CACFP participants and program operators.
Almost 3,000 individuals joined NCA for these webinars, receiving insightful information and multiple resources including:
- CACFP social media toolkit
- Advocacy Templates
- Promotional Flyers
- Activity Sheets
- Parent Newsletters
- Press releases to share with media outlets
- Sesame Street resources
- Nutrition education resources
- “Certificates of Awesomeness” to celebrate program participation
- Information on how to join the program
National Permanent Proclamation of National CACFP Week
NCA committed to reintroducing the House and Senate Resolutions and pursuing a permanent proclamation declaring the 3rd week in March National CACFP Week.
NCA partially achieved this goal by engaging with previous cosponsors of the National CACFP Week Resolutions in both the House and the Senate. After meeting with Congresswoman Bonamici, the National CACFP Week Resolution was successfully reintroduced in the House. Although the resolution was not reintroduced on the Senate side, NCA received videos of support of National CACFP Week from two Senators and four Representatives. In addition, governors in six States proclaimed the third week of march as CACFP Week in their State.