Child Nutrition Programs Learning Library

Definitions

• After School Programs
• Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP)
• Child Care Center
• Center
• Day Care Home Provider
• Day Care Home Sponsor
• Food Distribution Program (FDP)
• Key Area
• Learning Objective
• National School Lunch Program (NSLP)
• Professional Standards
• School Breakfast Program (SBP)
• School Food Authority (SFA)
• School Nutrition Programs (SNP)
• Sponsors
• Summer Food Service Program (SFSP)
• Seamless Summer Option (SSO)
• Training Topic

After School Programs: The programs that give children and teenagers the nutrition they need, and draw them into constructive activities that are safe, fun, and filled with opportunities for learning after the school day. The federally reimbursable after school programs are under the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and CACFP. 

Child and Adult Care Food Program: The CACFP provides nutritious meals and snacks to infants and children as a regular part of their day care.

Child Care Center: A child care center, school-age center, at-risk after school center, or emergency shelter. This does not include day care homes.

Center: A child care center, school-age center, at-risk after school center, adult day care center, or emergency shelter.

Day Care Home Provider: A day care home provider that participates in the CACFP under the auspices of a day care home sponsor.

Day Care Home Sponsor: A nonprofit or public agency that has a current, valid program agreement with the NSD to participate as a sponsor in the CACFP.

Food Distribution Program: The program that assists agencies by making U.S. Department of Agriculture Foods available to enhance the feeding programs of participants of the Child Nutrition Programs.

Key area: The four key areas are: (1) nutrition, (2) operations, (3) administration, and (4) communication/marketing. Each key area has one or more main topics called training topics.

Learning Objectives: Brief description of the skill or area of knowledge to be addressed.

National School Lunch Program: The NSLP program that assists schools and other agencies to provide nutritious lunches to children at reasonable prices.

Professional Standards: The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 (HHFKA) requires the U.S. Department of Agriculture to create professional standards for state and local SNP personnel. Professional standards for school nutrition professionals require a minimum amount of annual training hours for all state directors of SNPs, state director of distributing agencies, SNP directors, managers, and staff.

School Breakfast Program: The SBP that assists schools and other agencies in providing nutritious breakfasts to children at reasonable prices.

School Food Authority (SFA): An administering entity for the operation of a school feeding program. It can receive federal meal reimbursements for administering the meal programs. An SFA may be a school district, several school districts, or individual schools.

School Nutrition Programs: Within California, any of the following programs: the California Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program, SBP, NSLP, Seamless Summer Option (SSO), or Special Milk Program.

Sponsors: Sponsoring organizations that are entirely responsible for the administration of the food program for: (a) one or more day care homes; (b) two or more centers (see definition of centers); (c) a center that is a legally distinct entity from the sponsoring organization (see definition of sponsor of unaffiliated centers), or (d) any combination of the above.

Summer Food Service Program: A program that reimburses sponsors for administrative and operational costs to provide meals for children 18 years of age and younger during periods when they are out of school for 15 or more consecutive school days.

Seamless Summer Option: A program that encourages more public school districts and county offices of education to provide meals in low income areas during summer and certain other school vacation periods. The SSO combines features of the NSLP, SBP, and SFSP. The SSO reduces paperwork and administrative burdens and makes it easier for sponsors to feed children in low income areas during traditional summer vacation periods and during school vacation periods of longer than 10 days for year-round schools.

Training Topic: Each training topic has multiple courses available and has a learning objective.

School Nutrition Program (SNP)

Each key area will direct you to a list of courses. Use the arrows to sort by training topic or course name. Select the course name to access the course, related handouts and materials, additional information, and contact information.

Key Areas

Nutrition
Operations
Administration

Additional Online Training Databases developed by partners outside of the NSD are listed at the bottom.

Nutrition

Operations

Administration

Additional Online Training Databases

To find additional online training databases, visit the:

• U.S. Department of Agriculture's Professional Standards for School Nutrition Professionals web page to search for trainings related to the key areas nutrition, operation, administration, and marketing.
  
  
• Institute of Child Nutrition Courses and Learning Plans web page to search for school nutrition trainings by selecting the Filter tab and choosing "School Nutrition".
  
  
• Chef Ann Foundation The Lunch Box web page to access webinars related to increasing participation, implementing farm-to-school with recipes and cycle menus, implementing and growing a successful After-the-Bell breakfast program and much more!

Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP)

The CACFP online courses are accessible on the California Department of Social Services (CDSS) CACFP Training web page . For questions regarding these online courses, please email the CACFP CDSS Nutrition Team at cacfptraining@dss.ca.gov.

Food Distribution Program (FDP)

Each key area will direct you to a list of courses. Use the arrows to sort by training topic or course name. Select the course name to access the course, related handouts and materials, additional information, and contact information.

Key Areas

Nutrition
Operations

Nutrition

Operations

Summer Food Service Program (SFSP)

Each key area will direct you to a list of courses. Use the arrows to sort by training topic or course name. Select the course name to access the course, related handouts and materials, additional information, and contact information.

Key Areas

Nutrition
Operations
Administration

Nutrition

Operations

Contacts

For general inquiries, please contact the Nutrition Services Division at 1-800-952-5609. For questions about a specific course, select the course name hyperlink, and scroll to the bottom of the web page for the contact phone number and email address.