FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Bonita, CA, June 30, 2020 – Amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Child Development Associates (CDA) is dedicated to supporting essential child care providers serve nutritious meals to children across Southern California. CDA Nutrition Program is the largest California sponsor of the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP); a federally funded U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) program that reimburses licensed or TrustLine family child care home providers for the nutritious, safely-prepared meals and snacks they serve the children in their care.
Nutritious meals are crucial for the healthy development of children, especially during the COVID-19 crisis when schools have closed nationwide and millions of vulnerable children have lost the school meals they depend on a daily basis. For some, the meals that child care providers serve are often the only healthy meals that enrolled children receive in a given day.
“The Nutrition Program money helps me buy and serve healthier foods to my day care children.” said a provider enrolled in CDA Nutrition Program.
To continue provider enrollment and support, CDA Nutrition Program recently implemented online enrollment and technical assistance via Zoom. To date, 14 new child care providers have enrolled to the program and several are now serving healthy meals to over 50 children.
“CDA is using Zoom Meetings, Facetime, text messaging, group email, phone blasts, and personal phone calls at this time to support our Child Care Providers,” said CDA Nutrition Program Manager, Deborah Zaragoza.
CDA currently supports over 1,190 providers serving 13,000 children across the following six Southern California counties: San Diego, Imperial, Orange, Riverside, and select areas of Los Angeles and San Bernardino. To learn more about how to enroll in CDA Nutrition Program, call (619) 427-4922 or toll-free at 1-800-698-9798.
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About Child Development Associates
Child Development Associates (CDA) is a community based, non-profit agency that has been providing child care and development services throughout San Diego County since 1974. At CDA, we believe in creating opportunities for families to prosper. Every day, we support families with affordable child care services and nutritious meals to ensure their child’s healthy development and future success. For more information and annual impact, visit www.cdasd.org or on Facebook @cdasandiego.