FNS Documents & Resources

A final rule, Child Nutrition Programs: Community Eligibility Provision-Increasing Options for Schools (88 FR 65778), was published on Sept. 26, 2023, with an effective date of Oct. 26, 2023, that established the 25 percent minimum ISP threshold.  As a result, more students, households, and schools have the opportunity to experience CEP’s benefits, such as increasing access to school meals at no cost, eliminating unpaid meal charges, minimizing stigma, and streamlining meal service operations.

The Food Buying Guide for child nutrition programs has all of the current information in one manual to help you and your purchasing agent buy the right amount of food and the appropriate type of food for your program(s), and determine the specific contribution each food makes toward the meal pattern requirements.

This memorandum provides return to the full issuance of eight units of vegetables or soup in CSFP food packages for May 2022 distributions and beyond.

This memorandum includes questions and answers to provide clarification to state agencies, emergency shelters, and emergency shelters that operate at-risk after school care centers regarding meals and snacks served to young adults in the Child and Adult Care Food Program.

Households with a child  approved to receive free or reduced price meals under the National School Lunch Program or the School Breakfast Program during the 2019-2020 or 2020-2021 school year are eligible for the Federal Communication Commission’s Emergency Broadband Benefit. EBB is a federal program to help eligible families pay for internet service during the pandemic.

In an effort to make the distribution of P-EBT benefits to eligible children as efficient as possible, USDA has developed a simple P-EBT summer plan template. The template allows states to elect a USDA-determined standard benefit that relieves states of the burden of determining their own benefit levels based on state-specific school district calendars.

This memorandum provides information on the exclusion as income of rebates under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 in FDPIR, TEFAP, and CSFP.

This memorandum provides guidance regarding reimbursement of meals and snacks served during the COVID-19 public health emergency by emergency shelters participating in CACFP under section 17 of the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act.

This memorandum is in regards to a temporary shortage of ultra-high temperature (UHT) fluid milk in the Commodity Supplemental Food Program.

FNS is establishing a nationwide waiver to support the Community  Eligibility Provision while schools are responding to the novel coronavirus. The deadlines affected by this waiver include the CEP election, notification and reporting deadlines.