How do I apply for afterschool snacks?
Contact Patti Harding from the Iowa Department of Education, Bureau of Nutrition and Health at 515-281-5356 or patti.harding@iowa.gov.
Is my afterschool care program eligible?
In order for a site to participate, your school district must operate the NSLP. Additionally the afterschool care program must provide children with regularly scheduled educational or enrichment activities in a supervised environment. Sites are either area eligible in which case all snacks are served free or snacks are served and counted based on the free and reduced or paid eligibility of the student.
How do we get reimbursed?
Schools may claim reimbursement for one snack per child, per day. If the site is located in an area served by a school in which at least 50% of the enrolled children are eligible for free or reduced-price meals, all children are eligible to receive reimbursement for snacks at the free rate. Sites located in other areas must count meals and claim reimbursement by eligibility type of the child (free, reduced-price and paid) and have documentation of eligibility. No more than $0.15 may be charged for a reduced-price snack.
What type of snacks must be served in my program?
In order to be reimbursed, the snacks must contain at least two different components of the following four: a serving of fluid milk; a serving of meat or meat alternate; a serving of vegetable(s) or fruits(s) or juice; a serving of whole grain or enriched bread and/or cereal.
What times of the day/year may snacks be claimed?
Meals may only be claimed when served after the school day has ended. Meals served on weekends, holidays, or vacation periods may not be reimbursed under the NSLP.
What records must be maintained?
The following records are required to receive reimbursement:
- For sites that are not area eligible, free and reduced price applications for all children for whom free and reduced price snacks are claimed;
- Meal counts (totals for sites qualifying for free reimbursement for all children;
- meal counts by type for all other sites);
- Documentation for each child's attendance;
- Documentation of compliance with meal pattern requirements (menus) and food production records.
Documentation of two monitoring reviews done by the school food authority each year must also be maintained. The first review must be done within the first four weeks of Program operations.
Iowa Afterschool Snack Program located on IowaCNP.
USDA Afterschool Snack Webpage: http://www.fns.usda.gov/school-meals/afterschool-snacks
Afterschool Care Snack Program - Recorded 11-8-21. Provides an overview of the requirements of the Afterschool Care Snack Program.