The WIC and Head Start programs share common goals. Both programs strive to promote positive health and nutrition status for young families. Both programs provide young children and families with nutritious foods, health and nutrition education, and assistance in accessing on-going preventive health care. In many communities, WIC and Head Start serve the same families. By working together, programs have an opportunity to coordinate these services and maximize use of scarce resources (e.g., funding, staff, space). Working together can mean minimizing duplicative efforts on the part of families and staff; more opportunities for WIC and Head Start to benefit from each program’s strengths, expertise and best practices; and ultimately, more ways to make a positive impact on good health and nutrition for children and families.
This report examines data from the Current Population Survey in order to analyze trends in free and reduced price certification and participation in the National School Lunch Program during the period of 1993-1997. The data indicate that free certifications for NSLP as a percentage of CPS estimated eligibles have been increasing for several years and was 118% in 1997 (latest available).
The Food and Nutrition Service (FNS), which administers the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), asked Mathematica Policy Research to examine more closely Medicaid's role in adjunct eligible for WIC and do not have to show further proof of income to qualify.
As you know, regulations at 7 CFR 226.6(c) give State agencies the responsibility to terminate child care institutions that the State agency determines to have been seriously deficient in the operation of one of the child nutrition programs.
The purpose of this memorandum is to reiterate the authority and responsibility State agencies have in ensuring that facilities terminated for cause from CACFP by one sponsoring organization do not participate in the program under another sponsor.
Interest, research, and expenditures on dietary supplements are growing very fast. Americans spent $8.2 billion in 1995 for vitamins, minerals, herbs and botanicals, and sports nutrition products. About half of all Americans reported at least some use of vitamins and minerals in response to recent surveys. The general goal of the study is to examine existing data that bear on a diverse set of pertinent issues.
We are writing to stress the importance of training day care providers and center personnel. Insuring that program participants are well-trained is a vital responsibility of state agencies and sponsoring organizations, and it is an important proactive tool in improving program management and integrity.
The Jan. 14, 1999, memorandum implementing the after school snack provision of the Child Nutrition Programs’ reauthorization legislation stated that RCCIs would not be eligible for this benefit. To address these situations, we are authorizing RCCIs to participate in the after school snack program.
This memorandum clarifies our policy with regard to those situations in which homeless shelters participating in CACFP receive and use commodity foods.
In the past, the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) has relied on a series of large surveys to gather and compare information on food expenditures and food consumption among participants and non-participants to better understand the impacts of the Food Stamp Program (FSP) on the diet and nutritional status of program participants. Studies based on survey data, however, have a number of drawbacks, including the time and expense of collecting the survey data, sampling error, response bias, errors in respondent recall, and misinformation about what may have been purchased or consumed.