
{"id":12334,"date":"2024-05-02T19:39:23","date_gmt":"2024-05-02T19:39:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/state.nokidhungry.org\/south-carolina\/?p=12326"},"modified":"2025-04-09T18:45:19","modified_gmt":"2025-04-09T18:45:19","slug":"all-about-cep-with-no-kid-hungry-south-carolina","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/state.nokidhungry.org\/south-carolina\/2024\/05\/02\/all-about-cep-with-no-kid-hungry-south-carolina\/","title":{"rendered":"All About CEP with No Kid Hungry South Carolina"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">For many children across South Carolina, school is their safe haven &#8211; a place for them to learn, play, and grow. School meals are a crucial part of this experience &#8211; allowing students to have the nutrition and energy they need to greet the day ready to succeed. However, because of stigma, affordability, and other barriers, school meals don\u2019t reach every child who needs them. One strategy to offset some of these barriers and increase access to school meals is through the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP).<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">What Is CEP?<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/bestpractices.nokidhungry.org\/resource\/community-eligibility-provision-cep-overview\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Community Eligibility Provision (CEP)<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> is a federal reimbursement for schools participating in the National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program that enables them to provide no-cost meals to all students. CEP eliminates the need to gather household income information or claim meal reimbursements according to student eligibility status (eg. free, reduced-price). Instead, participating schools receive per-meal funding based on a formula that uses data from other public benefit programs. (Note: Schools participating in CEP might collect <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/bestpractices.nokidhungry.org\/resource\/alternative-income-forms-understanding-what-they-are-why-theyre-important-how-theyre\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Alternative Income Forms<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, which help collect student information for programs and funding sources.)<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Why Does CEP Matter?<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">CEP benefits students AND schools. When a child\u2019s nutritional needs are met, the child is more attentive in class, has better attendance, and has fewer disciplinary problems. For families grappling with tight budgets, CEP offers reassurance that their children receive two nutritious meals daily at school. CEP promotes equity by eliminating the out-of-pocket costs for families and by reducing the stigma of school meals programs.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">For schools, CEP reduces administrative burdens by eliminating school meals applications, counting and claiming by fee category, and unpaid meal charges. School nutrition staff are able to streamline meal service, making it easier to implement innovative service models like meals in the classroom. These benefits taken together often result in revenue generation for school nutrition budgets.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Key Dates For CEP<\/span><\/h3>\n<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><b>Date<\/b><\/td>\n<td><b>What\u2019s Happening?<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">April 1, 2024<\/span><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Counts of identified and enrolled students as of April 1 are used for CEP eligibility determinations.<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">April 15, 2024<\/span><\/td>\n<td><b>State agencies<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> must provide district-wide CEP eligibility to local education agencies (LEAs).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>LEAs<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> must provide school-level eligibility data to state agencies.<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">May 1, 2024<\/span><\/td>\n<td><b>State agencies<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> must post CEP eligibility lists online.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>State agencies<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> must send the link to CEP eligibility lists to USDA Food and Nutrition Service (FNS).<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">June 30, 2024<\/span><\/td>\n<td><b>LEAs<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> must notify state agencies of intent to participate in CEP.<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">How Can I Learn More?<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Are you curious about whether your school participates in CEP? You can check through FRAC\u2019s <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/frac.org\/research\/resource-library\/community-eligibility-cep-database#:~:text=Search%20FRAC%27s%20CEP%20database%20to,schools%20are%20participating%20in%20CEP.\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">CEP Database<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. This resource can also help you determine whether your school is eligible to participate in CEP.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">If you\u2019re interested in exploring CEP for your school or district, No Kid Hungry has resources available. Our <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/bestpractices.nokidhungry.org\/resource\/no-kid-hungrys-cep-calculator\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">CEP Calculator<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> allows school nutrition staff to better understand how CEP would impact your revenue (versus traditional NSLP). Our <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/bestpractices.nokidhungry.org\/resource\/community-eligibility-provision-cep-communications-toolkit\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">CEP Communications Toolkit<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/bestpractices.nokidhungry.org\/resource\/strategies-finding-success-cep\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Strategies for Finding Success with CEP<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> resource will help you make a smooth transition to CEP. Need more assistance? Check out the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/bestpractices.nokidhungry.org\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">No Kid Hungry Center for Best Practices website<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> or reach out to us at mspady@strength.org.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For many children across South Carolina, school is their safe haven &#8211; a place for them to learn, play, and grow. School meals are a crucial part of this experience&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":11961,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-12334","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-blog"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>All About CEP with No Kid Hungry South Carolina - SOUTH CAROLINA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/state.nokidhungry.org\/south-carolina\/2024\/05\/02\/all-about-cep-with-no-kid-hungry-south-carolina\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"All About CEP with No Kid Hungry South Carolina - SOUTH CAROLINA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"For many children across South Carolina, school is their safe haven &#8211; a place for them to learn, play, and grow. 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