SCV agency to participate in food program
For the current school year, four locations served by the Santa Clarita Valley School Food Services Agency will participate in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Child and Adult Care Food Program.
The program is federallyfunded and provides nutritious foods to child and adult care institutions, as well as family group day care homes.
The program is administered by each state’s Department of Education and provides meals and snacks to more than 4.2 million and 130,000 adults each year.
In Santa Clarita, the program will be available without charge to children enrolled at Canyon Springs Elementary School, Dr. J. Michael McGrath Elementary School, Newhall Elementary School and Mint Canyon Elementary School.
The meals and snacks are provided to children as part of their afterschool or day care programs and follow guidelines from the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, which includes a greater variety of vegetables and fruit, more whole grains, and less added sugar and saturated fat.
Agencies are reimbursed for the meals and snacks at free, reduced-price or full rate depending on children’s family income and in a similar manner to the reimbursement structure for free or reducedprice meals.
An announcement from the SCV School Food Services Agency included information about the gross income of households—effective from July 1, 2017 and June 30, 2018—for children to be eligible for free or reduced-price meal benefits.
The income scale, however, does not apply to households that are eligible for CalFresh, California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids, or Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations. Children of these households are automatically eligible for free meal benefits. ccox@signalscv.com 661-287-5575
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