Addressing hunger in Iowa should be easier under newly restructured state agency, director says

DES MOINES — The recent restructuring of multiple state departments into one new agency that oversees most issues of health will help that agency address hunger and food insecurity in Iowa, the agency’s director said Thursday.

Kelly Garcia, director of the newly restructured Iowa Department of Health and Human Services, made the comments during a panel discussion at the Iowa Hunger Summit, held at the World Food Prize Foundation Hall of Laureates in Des Moines.

The annual summit, according to its website, brings together Iowa leaders in government, business, schools, community organizations, social agencies and more to discuss the challenges of ensuring no Iowans go hungry.

Garcia talked about how the Iowa HHS department, which recently absorbed previously separate state agencies on public health and aging, now oversees food assistance programs from early in Iowans’ lives to their senior years. She said that intergenerational responsibility should help the agency work in a more holistic manner to address hunger and food insecurity.

“There’s no shortage of opportunity or direction and unique opportunities that we have in the agency today, especially because we have all of the supports in one agency now, which really allows us to both do really deep, deep and meaningful community needs assessments around what the health outcome drivers are,” Garcia said.

Garcia added later, “We’re really thinking about this through a holistic lens of nutrition, and also through an intergenerational lens, because we are also now the home to aging services in the state. … And I think that that’s not the way we’ve thought about it from a state agency perspective before.”

During remarks she gave Thursday, Gov. Kim Reynolds announced the dedication of $5 million in federal pandemic relief funding to four nonprofit organizations in Iowa with the intention of increasing the availability of food distributed to food pantries throughout the state.

“With this investment, these networks will be able to update and modernize their facilities, provide more access to fresh foods, and serve Iowans for many years to come,” Reynolds said in a news release. “Food insecurity doesn’t exist in a vacuum and requires a realistic approach to interrupt the cycle before Iowans become food insecure. It’s my commitment that Iowa will continue to improve our job training programs, our housing and child care initiatives, and our mental health system as a comprehensive approach to address this multifaceted challenge.”

Reynolds also touted work her administration performed during the COVID-19 pandemic to meet heightened food needs across the state, and the expansion of a state-funded program that matches up to $10 daily spent on fruits and vegetables.

She also highlighted data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture that shows Iowa at 7 percent has the second-lowest prevalence of food insecurity in the country. The USDA data covers 2019 to 2021.

“This is good news. And as I said, I think it reflects the good work that we’ve done together,” Reynolds said during Thursday’s summit. “But still, too many Iowans, especially children, don’t have consistent access to enough food.”

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In 2022, Reynolds ended the state’s public health emergency from the pandemic, which shut off additional food assistance benefits that were offered during the pandemic and funded by the federal government.

Earlier this year, Reynolds signed into law legislation advanced by Statehouse Republicans that added eligibility and verification requirements to low-income Iowans who receive benefits from the food assistance program SNAP, which formerly was known as food stamps. An analysis from the state’s nonpartisan Legislative Services Agency projected the new requirements could result in 2,800 eligible SNAP recipients having their benefits mistakenly canceled.

Officials at food pantries say the need for their services has never been greater. The Food Bank of Iowa, which serves 55 of Iowa’s 99 counties, said it distributed 21 million pounds of food in its most recent budget year, the most in its 41-year history.

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