Child Care & Nutrition, Inc. (CCNI) is a non-profit organization dedicated to serving family child care providers and families.
If we support family child care providers, we believe they could experience the following outcomes:
- Providers will have a very successful program.
- Children in care will have a wonderful bonding experience.
- Parents will feel secure about their children’s care.
Our Services
- Minnesota Sponsoring Agency of the United States Department of Agriculture’s Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP)
- The Weekend Winners Backpack Program
- Develop Approved Annual Nutrition Training for Childcare Providers
- All Day Training and Conferences Sponsored or Co-Sponsored by CCNI
Our Mission Statement
- Support family child care providers with training and information.
- Aid family child care providers with services and resources that will enable them to provide quality care to children.
- Promote community awareness of child care issues, and partner with communities to enhance, develop, and expand child care services as needed.
Message from the Founder
Forty years ago, or so, young mothers started joining the workforce across the nation en masse. This spawned a need for a flexible, affordable quality care setting for their small children. Many other young moms were finding they could fill a need for society by providing in-home care options for the workforce.
I was a young working mom in the mid-1970s and after my second child was born 11-1/2 months after the first one, I decided I could join the in-home profession of providing care for other children.
I also started my child care business before there was the Child and Adult Care Food Program availability. When my sister (also an in-home licensed provider) called me and asked me if I had heard about this program that reimbursed me for the meals I served to the children in care, I was dumbfounded. “Where do I sign?” I responded.
Through my experience as a working mom, a licensed family child care provider who didn’t have the “Food Program” and then did, I became very passionate about the program, the benefits for families (keeps the cost of child care affordable and families working), providers (I learned in a hands-on way the nutritious guidelines and standards that I needed to meet for every meal and snack I served). In the past 30 years, I have seen the effect this program has had on providers and families. I also understand the plight of working families and how hectic and chaotic life can be for them when their children are so small. Family child care supports families. We strive to support family child care. Everyone benefits.
Sharon Rasmussen
Founder of CCNI