Technical Assistance for Child and Adult Care Food Program in Family Child Care Home

Early care and education (ECE) providers play a vital role in ensuring that young children have access to nutritious foods. Over 25% of children in ECE (1.2 million children) attend Family Child Care Homes (FCCH). Improvements in the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) may introduce new barriers for FCCH, which have limited meal preparation capacity. Limited research has examined foods served by FCCH providers, and no group randomized trials have been conducted using a Community‐Based Participatory approach in FCCH and including an evaluation of intervention costs. Goals: 1. Determine compliance of menus and meals provided in FCCH with CACFP guidelines. 2. Determine the effectiveness of a pilot community‐based Nutrition Technical Assistance intervention to enhance meeting CACFP best‐practices. 3. Determine the effectiveness of a statewide community‐based Nutrition Technical Assistance Intervention to enhance meeting CACFP best‐practices. 4. Expand university student opportunities for participation in health research. Methods: Conduct a cross‐sectional assessment of a random sample of FCCH providers' (n=52) menus and meals served. Foods will be evaluated against the CACFP requirements and best‐practices. After the cross‐sectional examination, providers in the pilot will be randomly assigned to a Nutrition Technical Assistance (n=26) or attention comparison intervention (n=26). Following the pilot, trained Extension Educators will implement both interventions (n=27 intervention, n=27 comparison) in six selected counties, reaching underserved rural and low‐income populations. The intervention is based on theoretical foundations and formative interviews, and will consist of two 60‐90‐minute visits to the FCCH and one group class lasting approximately 3 hours.