What is the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP)?
The Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) is a program through the USDA that allows schools in low income areas to provide free breakfast and lunch to all students.    

How does a district qualify for the Community Eligibility Program?
Eligibility is determined by the Identified Student Percentage (ISP) per school building.  ISP is calculated by the number of students who qualify for free meals without an application (Foster, homeless, Medicaid, SNAP etc.) divided by the total school enrollment.  A school must have a minimum ISP of 40% to qualify. Districts may participate in CEP in a variety of ways: by individual school building, groups of schools or the entire district.

Which Schools in the Northwest Community Schools will be participating in CEP? 
All Northwest Community Schools participate in CEP. All students will be eligible for free breakfast and lunch without submitting a free and reduced lunch application. Families at these buildings will be asked to complete a Title I Household Information Report.

What is A Community Eligibility Household Information Report?
Title I is a federal program that provides financial assistance to schools to improve academic achievement.  Title I funds are allocated to schools based on household income. For CEP schools the Household Information Report is needed to meet Michigan Title I allocation rules

All students enrolled at any of the approved schools are eligible to receive a healthy breakfast and lunch at school at NO CHARGE to your child each day of the 2022-2023 school year.

Instead of the Free and Reduced-Price Meal Application, we still need your household to fill out and sign the Household Information Report. This report is critical in determining the amount of money that our school receives from a variety of State and Federal supplemental programs like Title I A, At-risk (31a), Title II A, E- Rate, etc. 

These supplemental programs have the potential to offer supports and services for our students including, but not limited to:

• Instructional supports (staff, supplies and materials, etc.)
• Non-instructional services (counseling, social work, health services, etc.)
• Professional learning for staff
• Parent and community engagement supplies and activities
• Technology

We are asking that you please complete and submit the Household Information Report as soon as possible to ensure additional funding for our school is available to meet the needs of our students. All information on the report submitted is confidential. Without your assistance in completing and returning the attached report, our school cannot maximize the use of available State and Federal funds.