NEW JERSEY — The New Jersey Department of Agriculture is continuing its partnership with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Child and Adult Care Food Program, which provides reimbursement for nutritious meals served through eligible day care and other care programs.
The federally funded program provides reimbursements for well-balanced meals served to people enrolled in adult and child care centers, family day care homes, after-school programs, emergency shelters and Head Start programs.
Federal funding is provided by the USDA and paid to participating program operators through agreements with the New Jersey Department of Agriculture based on monthly claims.
Organizations that have used the program include Wishing Well Adult Day Health Care Center and Rainbow Children’s Musical Day Care in Mercer County, Programs for Parents in Essex County, Circle of Friends in Union County, Acelero Learning Monmouth/Middlesex Inc. and Ocean Inc. Child Development Center in Ocean County.
The program is available to public and private nonprofit organizations providing licensed or registered nonresidential day care services. Eligible organizations can include adult care and child care centers, family day care home sponsors, after-school programs, schools, food banks and city government organizations, including those providing day care services for children with disabilities or special health care needs.
For-profit centers may also qualify if they receive compensation under Title XX or XIX of the Social Security Act for at least 25% of participants receiving nonresidential care or if at least 25% of their participants qualify for free or reduced-price meal benefits.
Organizations interested in participating must complete an eligibility survey, pre-registration requirements, required online training and an application process before receiving approval.
For the period from July 1, 2026, through June 30, 2027, reimbursement rates for meals served in centers range from 42 cents to $2.54 for breakfast, depending on whether the meal is classified as paid, reduced-price or free.
Lunch and supper reimbursement rates range from 45 cents to $4.76, while snack reimbursement rates range from 12 cents to $1.30.
The lunch and supper reimbursement rates do not include the USDA cash-in-lieu of USDA Foods rate of 32 cents per meal.
Organizations interested in applying can contact the NJDA Child and Adult Care Food Program at njdacacfpcommunications@ag.nj.gov or 609-984-1250.
Program participants are required to take meal counts at the point of each meal service and record them on the required meal count form provided by the Child and Adult Care Food Program office.
Following are the Federal Income Eligibility Guidelines for determining Household participant meal rates:
