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Site Programs Overview

In order to take a meal count, a sponsor, site, meal and participant all need to be eligible for the same program. The article below is about adding a program to the site setup.


The Site Programs that are available to select are those that are authorized in Sponsor Setup. See our article about Allowed Program Types for more information.

Explanation of Site Programs

  • ARAM: At-Risk Afterschool Meals Program. This is allowed for afterschool programs and child care centers


  • CACFP Preschool & CACFP School Age: these program types are used by child care centers that are required to file separate claims for their school age and non-school age children. The opposite of using CACFP Preschool & CACFP School Age is using CACFP Standard. A child care center cannot have both CACFP Standard and CACFP Preschool & CACFP School Age. In other words, you either:
    • Separate your claims for school age and non-school age children and use program types CACFP School Age and CACFP Preschool -OR-
    • Combine your claims for school age and non-school age children and use program type CACFP Standard


Note: A CACFP School Age claim is not the same as an At-Risk Afterschool Meals claim. Another word for a CACFP School Age claim is an Outside School Hours Care Center claim. More information from the USDA about Outside School Hours Care Center versus At-Risk Afterschool Meals Program is available here.


  • CACFP Standard: this program type is used by all family day care homes, emergency shelters and adult day care programs. It is also used by child care centers that are not required to file a separate claim for school age and non-school age children.

  • Head Start: this program type is used by child care centers that operate a Head Start program.


  • Non-CACFP: this program type is available to all types of sites. This designation is used for participants that need to be recorded for attendance and meal counts but should never be included in a claim. The most common reasons for using Non-CACFP is:
    • Children or adult day care clients that provide their own meals but attendance and meal counts need to be recorded for the purposes of demonstrating compliance with licensed capacity
    • Staff members that need to be included in attendance and meal counts for the purposes of food production records.


  • SFSP: this program type is used for summer food sites

Adding or Removing Site Programs

To add a Site Program:

  • Click on "Site Details" from the main dashboard
  • Scroll down to the section on Site Programs
  • Click on the blue "Add Program" button.
  • Enter the date range (please note that an end date is not required). For ARAM (At-Risk Afterschool Meals) and Head Start, enter the school year for the date range.
  • Select the appropriate program type from the drop-down menu.
  • Repeat Steps 1-3 for each program type.
  • Scroll to the bottom of the page and click "Save".


To remove a Site Program:

  • Click on "Site Details" from the main dashboard
  • Scroll down to the section on Site Programs
  • Click the red "Delete" button next to the Site Program that no longer applies.
  • Scroll to the bottom of the page and click "Save".


Note: if you delete a Site Program and then try to rollback and re-run a claim, you may encounter a problem. If that happens, please contact My Food Program support for assistance.

School Year Transitions: Head Start and ARAM

Instead of deleting the row for ARAM or Head Start each year, it is best practice to add another set of dates. That way, you have a historical record of when each program was allowed at this site. Here is an example where there is a row for ARAM for the 2021 school year and then another row for the 2022 school year:

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