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43 schools, groups apply for new state grants for summer food assistance for low-income students
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds created and dedicated $900K to the grants after rejecting $29M in federal funding to remain in a federal food assistance program
May. 22, 2024 5:30 am
DES MOINES — A new state grant program to expand existing summer food assistance programs for Iowa students in low-income families received 43 applications, according to state records obtained by The Gazette.
The applications are for grants to boost the number of summer meal sites for children in underserved areas across the state.
Gov. Kim Reynolds’ administration created the grant program after Reynolds was among 17 mostly Republican governors who opted out of a federal summer food assistance program that was created during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Reynolds’ decision meant rejecting $29 million in federal funding that provided families with students who receive free or reduced-price meals during the school year to receive $40 per month during the summer months.
Reynolds instead allocated $900,000 of federal pandemic relief funding to create the new Summer Meal Program Expansion Grant. Applications for the program were due May 7.
Of the 43 applicants, 40 are Iowa public and private school districts. The three non-school applicants are the Northeast Iowa Food Bank in Waterloo, the YMCA of Greater Des Moines, and Story Medical Center in Nevada.
The total grant funding requested in the 43 applications is more than $26 million over the first three years, although that figure is skewed by one application for $25 million, from the Ottumwa School District.
The other 42 applications requested a total of $1.5 million.
The grants are expected to be awarded later this week, a spokeswoman for the governor’s office said.
Applications for new meal sites were required to be located in an area where at least 50 percent of the children are eligible for free or reduced-price meals.
The applications come from Iowa’s biggest cities, like Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, Iowa City, Davenport and Council Bluffs; and also smaller communities, like Bennett Community School District, which has a total K-12 enrollment of 57 students.
The applications also come from all geographic corners of the state.
However, they still leave some gaps in food assistance for low-income Iowa students. For example, there were no applicants from Webster County, where there is no summer meal program in the Fort Dodge Community School District, according to data compiled by the Iowa Hunger Coalition, a nonprofit advocacy organization.
When the new grant program was announced, the governor’s administration said priority would be given to applicants seeking to establish a new meal site and to schools or organizations that did not participate in the federal programs last year, or are in a county with two or fewer meal sites.
The spokeswoman for Reynolds’ office said there will be a statement issued when the state grants are announced later this week. When Reynolds eschewed the federal program, she said it was unsustainable and did not focus on nutrition.
The Gazette sent a series of question to the Iowa Department of Education, which will award the grants. A department spokeswoman said a response will come later this week.
“Providing young Iowans with access to free, nutritious meals in their communities during the summer months has always been a priority,” Reynolds said in a statement when she announced the new state grant program. “With the Summer Meal Program Expansion Grant, we will expand these well-established programs across our state to ensure Iowa’s youth have meals that are healthy and use local community farms and vendors when possible.”
Among the applicants:
- The Cedar Rapids Community School District applied for $20,000 in its proposal to establish three meal sites, at Noelridge Park, Taylor Elementary School, and the Truman Early Childhood Center. The district’s proposal also calls for working with Cedar Rapids’ 12 food pantries and other community partners like the public health and parks departments, the Boys & Girls Club, Champion Daycare and others.
- The Ottumwa School District requested nearly $25 million: nearly $14 million in Year 1 and more than $5 million in each of the next two years. The proposal calls for five meal sites in Ottumwa and plans to spend $7 million on food purchases, and $6 million on non-food supplies, and $12 million on operational and administrative personnel. Officials from the Ottumwa school district did not respond to questions about their application.
- The Vinton Shellsburg School District requested nearly $195,000 for one meal site.
A majority of applications, 32 of the 43, were for between $5,000 and $30,000.
The grants will help expand participation in two current federal summer child nutrition programs — the Summer Food Service Program and Seamless Summer Option. Those programs are administered by the Iowa Department of Education in partnership with the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Luke Elzinga, board chair of the Iowa Hunger Coalition, said the daily average participation at summer meal sites in Iowa in 2023 was 21,557, which is less than 10 percent of the more than 245,000 Iowa children who would have received the $40 per month from the Summer EBT that Reynolds rejected.
“While we certainly welcome the new grant program to expand summer meal sites, we also recognize that barriers will remain for families to access those sites. Summer EBT is meant to complement, not replace, summer feeding sites,” Elzinga said in a statement when Reynolds announced the new state grant program.
“We truly hope this grant program increases access to nutritious food for low-income kids during the summer — but the fact remains that our governor chose to deny $29 million in federal funds that would go directly to low-income families with children who face additional financial struggles during the summer months when kids are out of school,” the statement continued.
Comments: (515) 355-1300, erin.murphy@thegazette.com
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