Kristine Polich and Chelsea Odneal, Mid Iowa Community Action, Child and Adult Care Food Program, July 30, 2026

On our program today, we are going to be talking about a program service, if you will, from Mid-Iowa Community Action, MIPPA, Mid-Iowa, excuse me, let me get it right here, Mid-Iowa Community Action, MICA. MICA, yep. MICA. And we have Christine Polish here, Christine. It's been a while. It's been a few years. I appreciate the time to come back and visit with you, so. And you have a new program specialist, Johnny? Yes. Chelsea O'Neill. Yes, hello everyone. I'm Chelsea. Chelsea said, she reached out and said, we need to talk about our service, our program that we have available, and we're looking for people. Specifically, the program that you guys work with is called Child and Adult Care Food Program. Child and Adult Care Food Program. I'd like to describe it as we're a sister program to the school hot lunch program. So, it is for in-home child care providers as well as non-profit child care centers, and it's just a way for these in-home providers to get subsidized for serving nutritious meals and snacks. So, there's two levels of reimbursement, but basically it's anywhere, if you're caring for, I like to say, eight children and you're open 22 days a month. It's about three to six dollars a day in reimbursement per child. So, it's anywhere from 500 to a little over a thousand that these in-home providers can get subsidized to help cut down on their food costs. So, which we all are looking to do today with the rising cost of food, and then we're also an educational program. So, we're in the home three times a year, and Chelsea is the one who gets to go in and do the in-home activities with the children. We're trying to teach them the importance of eating a variety of healthy foods. And Chelsea's got planned this year to do some health-related activities on proper hand-washing, brushing of the teeth, what foods to eat, to keep your smile bright. Yes. And so, I'm sure they can enjoy the nutrition, all the five food groups. So, again, we're talking mostly children at this point. Right. There is the adult aspect. So, adult facilities can also participate. They participate directly with the Department of Education. But, you know, in some of our registered child care homes, they do care for older individuals that require care during the day. So, we do have, you know, a few a handful of people that are over the age of 13, but into their 20s. But, mainly, it's for children birthed at 12 years of age. The home can just be on our program if they're registered with HHS or have a CCA agreement with Health and Human Services and providing child care. So, very basic requirements to get them on our program. So, Chelsea, among other things, in-home daycares type things and or non-profit ones, sometimes they tend to come and go, especially the in-home ones. Absolutely. So, right now, it would be someone's looking at this. Yes. If someone is doing this and may not be familiar with the program, you would like to make contact with them. Absolutely. The small goal is to find providers who already is providing service at home and just so they can understand. The basics of our program is to ensure you serve the five food groups as far as they're credible, which will be protein, grain, fruit, vegetable, and dairy. And once you provide those credible foods and ensure that the kids are having a healthy breakfast, lunch, snack, or supper, you will get reimbursed for the funds you're already spending. So, because they are going to be spending those in-house? Yes, absolutely. You get some reimbursement. That helps immensely, too. And, I mean, now, you work with those people individually to show, here's what you're going to need. This is what you're serving right now. Yes. Mac and cheese every day. Why not be? It's not no. The great thing about the program is we will give each provider a guideline of what we expect and the things that we will ask of them to add into their meals every day. So you work with them? Yes, yes. We work with them. We will show them exactly what to do to ensure they're doing the program properly. Other than that, yeah. So you can still, you know, they can still get the wonderful things that, you know, the snacks. However, we will encourage them to, you know, throw an apple in there. Of course, oranges. Carrot sticks. Yes, some carrot sticks, you know, broccoli here and there. But we want to also introduce the children to different healthy foods. Yeah. And then, so that's one part of what you're doing. Yes. The other part is, like you said, going in and doing some contact time. Yes, yes. I enjoy playing with the kids. My overall motto will be to show them different fruits and vegetables. Some children, you know, haven't seen them and just explain them the healthy things that it can do for them. Let them know what it tastes like, you know. Yeah. You know, some kids are like, oh, I don't want to try that. We'll just give them an option of trying it. And I throw some fun games in there so it can be a little more intriguing for them. Yeah. I'm thinking, I could think of something that just, it's green. I don't know if I want that. Absolutely. Yeah. One of my favorite books for the kids is I would never, ever eat a tomato. And it's just because, you know, the book, you look and she's just like, oh no, I'm not going to touch it until her older brother shows her all these wonderful worlds she can go to and try all the fruits and vegetables. So it's, you know, that's my goal. And again, a lot of it is just letting them know there are things that you can do. And also for the providers. Yes. All right. So again, you guys cover, right now, basically, Chelsea's covering what, nine counties? Yes. But the overall program, you guys kind of facilitate a big area. Yes. We are now serving 17 counties, mainly in central and north central Iowa. And so we, Chelsea is, her geographical area is more. More here. More here. Yeah. And then we contract with another community action up for Des Moines out of Grettinger. And we have one of their staff members who's doing the in-home spot checks and doing the, like Chelsea's doing, doing the in-home activities and so forth. And yes, we, our service delivery area has grown. So. I was going to say, she's, Chelsea's pretty much Highway 30, Highway 20. Yes. Yes. My counties are Hamilton, Tama, Marshall, Marshall County, Green, Boone, Wright, Webster, Jasper and Story. Yeah. So those are my counties. Yes. Yeah. So. And the big thing is letting people know that this is here. Now, I'm guessing you already have some that you work with. Absolutely. Some providers. More providers. Or providers that might be looking at doing the service. Or someone just thinking about a career change. Maybe they've, you know, started their own family and they're looking at maybe this would be a good line of employment for them to start their own in-home childcare business. So we would love to visit with them, help them how to become registered with HHS. There's also another wonderful agency, the Center for Child Care Resources and Referral. They help in-home providers with all the business aspect of it. And then, of course, our program to help them subsidize those nutritious meals and snacks. We also want to try to get the word out there to parents who are looking for in-home childcare facilities that they're asking that provider, do you participate on the food program? Just so, it's another line of quality for a parent looking for care that they know their children are going to be receiving balanced meals and snacks. They know that another agency is popping in three times a year doing those spot checks on the home and so forth. So we're just trying to get the word out there to both parents and people maybe looking to get into this line of work. It is a wonderful line of work. All the families and children that you can touch through a career is just amazing. Some people are going to say, oh, they're trying to tell me exactly what I have to feed. It's not that. We just give them the basic guidelines to follow. So we tell them, but a provider is still running their own business. So they get to pick what meals and snacks they want to serve. They get to pick what menus they want to serve to them. We're just giving them the basic guidelines. And they just need to keep records every day on who was in their home, what the menu was, and who ate that meal. And they have to keep those records for tax purposes. So they might as well be doing it on our online program and getting subsidized for it because they need to keep it for their tax purposes. Absolutely. So yeah, everything's online now. So they can use their smartphones, a tablet, computer. So it's very convenient for them to do those record keeping and then getting that check. And then they need continuing education hours. And we provide that free of charge. We do webinars. We have a lot of prerecorded training that they can watch a video I've put together and a study guide and get those online training credits. So we've just tried to provide a variety of services to them. And Chelsea, you're the one that's in there visiting with them and saying, here's... Oh man, and I just, you know, say hi. And as far as the program, you can continue. If you're going to feed your children a turkey sandwich, fine. Serve them a turkey sandwich the way that you would do it. We will just suggest that you would use whole grain wheat or wheat bread. And that's the only difference of the program, just to ensure that you're adding just some part of... Just take the little things that... That's it, just healthy. And get you reimbursed. Yeah, and you're right. We're going to pay you for doing the same thing that you do. Of course, you have to bring love, but... So one of the things people will say is, so where's the money come for this program? Yes, we're a USDA program. And so the Child and Adult Care Food Program has been around since the early 70s, I believe. I've been with this program a long time, but not quite that long. And here in Iowa, the federal funds are administered through the Iowa Department of Education. So we, Micah, who has a whole variety of programs that serve the communities, we're just one small spoke in that big will of Micah, Micah contracts every year with the Department of Education to provide these services in our 17 counties. And so they come out and we just went through an administrative review with the compliance attorney from the Department of Ed. So they're out every other year checking to make sure that we're doing what we're supposed to do. So, but that is the funding source. Okay. And I know that again, because people recently, we've had the, what you can use for SNAP and things like that, too. This is not like that. This is different. This is something that is directly for a provider to give them assistance. Yes, yes. And as I said earlier, with the rising cost of food, who doesn't want some little help to stretch those food dollars at the grocery stores? So this is just one way that we can provide that plus the benefit for the children to receive those fresh fruits and vegetables and learning. You know, those are lifetime skills that, you know, that's just going to benefit them if they can start at an early age. So, like I said earlier, we're like the school lunch program, but it's just designed for children, you know, in that childcare setting. Yes. Chelsea, when you go, when someone might be saying, okay, I have this program, I have these kids that I'm going to have in my in-home, but I haven't been through any kind of, I don't have a certification. I don't, I haven't contacted like HHS or whatever. So, do they get a hold of you? Can you help them walk through that? Yes, absolutely. I will have everything that they need to walk through the program. How to get registered, how to find all the resources they need to get on this program. And it's actually, it's not as hard as people think if you're doing it anyway. Yeah. So I look at this program. CACFP is just a token of, you know, a token to the providers saying thank you. Thank you for doing this job. You know, I know it isn't easy, but thank you for providing great care, taking on the responsibility of taking care. You know, someone else's child and giving them the best quality that they can have while in your care. So that's our little token of saying thank you. We appreciate the great things you're doing. And do you work with larger, I mean, we're talking a lot of in-home providers, that sort of thing too, but do you work with larger childcare facilities as well? Absolutely, yes. Yesterday I went to see a wonderful provider. She has a total of like 19 children and she does a job well done. So yes, I have some that may only have three kids in their care or some that have up to 20. So yes, this program covers it all. Well, everything in between. Yeah. But we just work with the in-home. As I said earlier, licensed nonprofit centers would work directly with the Department of Education. But if you're thinking about starting a center, you could also look into getting on the food program through the Department of Ed. So there's ways to find out. And those are things you would direct them saying, Absolutely. You're going this way. Here's the people to get a hold of and make sure that you're meeting the guidelines to get your reimbursement. Absolutely, yes. And it is, again, it's a challenge because we know that childcare providers and having enough, that's a big one. Yes. The in-home childcare business has really dwindled in the last few years and there's just fewer and fewer in-home providers. So if, as I said earlier, if you're thinking about that line of work, please get a hold of us at Micah. You can just, our email address is C-A-C-F-P, then M-I-C-A at MicahOnline.org. So our phone number is 641-351-0819. You can reach out to us and Chelsea and I would love to visit with you. You can tell Christine's done this a while. Yes, she's so comfortable. She's got it. I'm just like, okay. But it is one of those things. And again, you cover, and I mean, we're talking here locally in Boone County, but Green County, if you know somebody in Green County that's doing this again. All the way up to Tama. Yes. So back and forth all along 30. And I'm guessing those are some of the things, like you said, we see it come and go. It ebb and flows. Yes. Yeah. Right now it kind of, the push is more for center-based care, but you know, there's always a need for that in-home care too. And some families just really, it's important to them to have that in-home care rather than a larger facility. And so, you know, it is a wonderful line of work if you're thinking about that. So again, they can find out more about it. And Chelsea, I know you'd love to hear from them. I would love to hear from any and everyone that just may be interested in being a provider, in-home provider, someone who was already an in-home provider, but had no idea about our program. I would be happy to explain it and walk them through whatever necessary steps they need. And just someone knew that, you know, maybe a mom of, you know, a few kids and already is a stay-at-home mom and loves children and say, hey, I can bring on a couple of more and, you know, just benefit from the program. Yeah, I know. And the other part of it is that we always look to make sure that they're eating healthy and things like that. And again, on the adult side, we know that that's a, again, a different group, but other assistance is available in the same area. Yes. But through another vehicle. Yep, yep. See, is that a better way to say it? A will. A spoke on the will. Yeah, another spoke on the will. And that at the adult component, I believe in the early 80s. And so it would be for those adult facilities that, and so, yep. But it's one of those where you're lucky. I can see some of the people that try to make use of some of our meal programs that are out there that, I mean, an opportunity for them. Yes. But they're getting hooked up the right way, the right connections. Yes. That's a big thing to do it too. Again, it's called the Child and Adult Care Food Program through MICA, Mid-Ivo Community Action. And once again, Chelsea covers nine counties. You want to say it? I'll say it. Okay, I can say all of them. Tama, Marshall, Jasper, Story, Boone, Green, Hamilton, Webster and Wright. Yes. Yes. He doesn't keep you all over the place. It does, it does. And then you do, again, you go out every so often. How long is it to go out and actually personal visits? Yeah, I stop by and I just do personal visits to ensure that if the provider needs anything, just if they have any questions, if they're interested in introducing a new food to the kids, something that's whole grain. And I just, you know, come in, actually, and I come in, I give the provider a little break. So normally I would come in like right before the lunch and I'll play and have activities with the kids. And I'll just read a book or, you know, just different things to give the provider a minute to step away, prepare lunch, you know, maybe take a breather, just to ensure them that, you know, we are supporting them through the whole process. So keep busy. You must have a lot to go. Yes. A lot of different places to go there. Keeps you busy. Thankful to the Micah Van, you know, truck I get to use and travel Highway 30. Well, keep going. And again, again, people that would like to find out more, make contact with Micah and talk about the food program. That's an easy way to do it, among other things. Absolutely. And we'll get things set up and planned so you can keep working on this. Yes. Well, thank you for the opportunity to come and visit. Again, give it, Christine, give us the contact stuff again. Okay. Email it's C-A-C-F-P-M-I-C-A at MicahOnline.org or phone number is 6413510819. And if they call and they say, yeah, what do you need? I heard about this food program and they'll get it to you. The food program is available in every county in Iowa. And so even if you have someone in another county and they don't know about it, reach out to us and we can get them the contact information in their area. But at Micah, as I said, we do 17 counties, so we have a lot of area to travel. But, you know, if someone in another county let us know, we'll help them too. Yes. Everyone in Iowa. Yes. Well, I do appreciate you taking time to come and visit with us. Let us know all about it. Again, it's called the, let me do it again. The Child and Adult Care Food Program, C-A-C-F-P. Yes, absolutely. That's where you get that at Micah Mid-Iowa Community Action. Thanks so much for coming in today. Thank you. Thank you.