Area Eligibility Duration
TO: Sponsors of Summer Food Service Program
FROM: Joseph Lee, Policy Coordinator
Food and Nutrition Service
DATE: April 26, 2007
SUBJECT: Area Eligibility Determination
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has announced the following change to Summer Food Service Program area eligibility determinations based on National School Lunch Program data. Once determined eligible, areas will now remain eligible for a period of five years instead of three years. Food and Nutrition Service will be incorporating this change into area eligibility determinations for future program years.
If you have any questions about this information, please contact Food and Nutrition Service at 651-582-8526, 800-366-8922, or e-mail to fns@state.mn.us.
Text of USDA policy:
In an effort to provide administrative relief to State Agencies and Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) sponsoring organizations, we are extending to the SFSP a provision of the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) that allows State agencies and institutions to rely upon a determination of area eligibility for up to five years when based on National School Lunch Program (NSLP) data. The provision has been extended to the NSLP in relation to Seamless Summer sites and applying it to the SFSP provides for consistent administration across Program lines.
Effective immediately, SFSP sponsors of sites determined to be area eligible based upon school data are now required to re-determine site eligibility every five years instead of every three years. New sites determined to be area eligible based upon school data will be considered eligible for up to five years from the date of determination. State agencies may extend by two years, for a total of five years, the area eligibility of sites currently participating on the basis of school data.
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