Food and Nutrition Programs

Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) Application School Groupings Webinar SY17-18

To:	National School Lunch Program Directors
From:	Robert M. Leshin, Director Office for Food and Nutrition Programs
Date:	March 13, 2017

The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, Office for Food and Nutrition Programs, will be providing an additional webinar opportunity for districts interested in applying to participate in CEP for School Year (SY) 2017-2018. A district may elect CEP on behalf of a single school, a group of schools, or all schools in the district. School groupings could be an opportunity to maximize federal reimbursement. The webinar will provide step by step instructions on how to successfully manage and submit one or more CEP school groupings for ESE approval. The Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 (HHFKA), amended section 11(a) (1) of the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act (42.U.S.C.1759a (a) (1)) requires the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to provide an alternative to household eligibility applications for free and reduced price meal eligibility in high poverty local educational agencies (LEAs). This initiative is referred to as the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) and is available to all LEAs that have eligible sites. CEP schools agree to offer breakfast and lunch at no charge to all students. This program is designed to ease the burden of administering a high volume of applications for free and reduced price meals. CEP is a powerful tool to both increase universal access to child nutrition programs and reduce paperwork at the district, school, and household levels. CEP Application School Groupings Webinar is scheduled on the following date:

Date/ Time	Location
Monday, April 24, 2017: 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm	Online

Important Registration Information Please register as soon as possible (space is limited). Log on instructions for the webinar will be sent to registrants the week before the webinar. For any questions related to trainings contact Kerry Callahan at 781-338-6462 or via email at KerryC@doe.mass.edu. For registration assistance please contact Marisol Montes by telephone at 781-338-6494 or via email at mmontes@doe.mass.edu.

Last Updated: March 13, 2017