Reynolds requests permission to use federal summer food aid to expand state meal program

DES MOINES — Iowa would use federal funding to expand the state’s newly created summer food assistance program for low-income families under a proposal from Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds’ administration.

Reynolds’ office said Thursday that her administration submitted a waiver request to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Under the waiver, Iowa again would opt out of USDA’s Summer EBT program, now called SUN Bucks, that provides an extra $40 per month to low-income Iowa families to make food purchases during the summer when children are out of school. Instead, the state would use federal funding to expand a state program created by Reynolds’ administration this year.

Reynolds first opted Iowa out of the Summer EBT program in 2023, rejecting $29 million in federal funding. Reynolds, however, devoted $900,000 of federal pandemic relief funding to start the new state grant program.

Under the waiver request, Iowa would use federal funding to support a state program to offer healthy foods at distribution sites in June, July and August 2025. Reynolds’ office said the state program would be expanded to include families at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty level — $25,820 for a family of three or $36,580 for a family of five. The current eligibility cap on the federal program is 185 percent of the poverty level. The state estimates the program would be available to 300,000 Iowa children — roughly 56,000 more than under SUN Bucks.

The proposed state program also would provide a delivery option for families with transportation challenges, according to the governor’s office.

Reynolds said the proposal will use existing infrastructure — including by partnering with Iowa food banks and school districts that already have food assistance programs — and promote healthier foods.

“Together with Iowa (Health and Human Services) and the Department of Education, the state is proposing a summer feeding demonstration project better suited for our state’s specific needs and capabilities,” Reynolds said in a statement. “Last year, I invested $900,000 to expand two other USDA summer feeding programs operated by the Iowa Department of Education that provide healthy, balanced meals and snacks for school-age children statewide. Our plan for 2025 builds upon that concept to promote food security and better health for more Iowa children.”

The state’s proposed program requires USDA’s approval. A USDA spokesperson told The Gazette the agency will review Iowa’s request just as it would for any other demonstration pilot project. The USDA spokesperson also defended the existing Summer EBT/SUN Bucks program and noted it is being operated in more than three dozen states, providing benefits to 21 million children.

“USDA’s Summer EBT program is designed to tackle one objective: feeding kids at a time when we know hunger goes up. It is backed by a decade of demonstration projects and rigorous evaluation showing that it works to reduce child hunger and support healthier diets,” USDA Press Secretary Allan Rodriguez said in a statement to The Gazette.

It also provides families with the freedom to decide what food is best for their needs, he said. “Through this waiver request, the governor is asserting that the State (of Iowa) knows better than its own families do about what their needs are.”

Luke Elzinga, board chair of the Iowa Hunger Coalition, said the group is grateful to Reynolds and state agency leaders for proposing an expansion to Iowa’s summer food assistance program. However, Elzinga also said the group believes the best way to help low-income families is to provide direct financial assistance.

“We’d really like to extend our gratitude to the governor, HHS Director Kelly Garcia and education director McKenzie Snow for this decision,” Elzinga said. “It’s not exactly what we hoped for, but we appreciate the state’s recognition of the high level of food insecurity across Iowa right now. We’re eager to learn more about the state’s proposed approach.”

How many Iowa children are hungry?

Over 110,000 Iowa children — 15.4 percent of the state’s children — were classified as food insecure in 2022, the most recent year data is available, according to Feeding America, a nationwide network of food banks, food pantries and meal programs. And 79 of the state’s 99 counties had child food insecurity rates of at least 13.1 percent.

Reynolds and other state agency leaders, including Garcia, say the state program provides healthier options by offering more nutritious food. They point to Iowa’s obesity rates in expressing the need to have a program that focuses on nutrition.

Iowa’s national rankings for childhood obesity are 12th-highest among 2- to 4-year-olds participating in the WIC program for low-income families, 23rd-highest among all children ages 10 to 17 and 10th-highest among high school students, according to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s latest State of Childhood Obesity data.

“The complex issues of food insecurity and obesity cannot be solved with cash benefits that don’t actively promote health, nutrition-dense food, or reach all Iowa children in need,” Garcia wrote to the USDA. “In Iowa, our focus is on the comprehensive well-being of this generation of young Iowans. Our solutions to promote healthy behaviors and well-balanced, nutritious diets for children must be comprehensive and holistic.”

Elzinga has pushed back on that assertion, saying that when low-income families have more money to spend on groceries, they typically buy nutritious food. His concern with the state program is that it establishes food sites that may present logistical challenges or insufficient options rather than putting money directly in those families’ hands.

“We think parents know best in this situation,” Elzinga said.

Last week, the Iowa Hunger Coalition and other advocacy groups delivered to Reynolds a petition, signed by more than 3,500 Iowans, urging the governor to re-enroll Iowa in the Summer EBT program.

In a news release, Reynolds said the proposed state extension would serve more children than Summer EBT, provide more food and better nutrition at a lower cost. She said that high grocery prices nationwide are increasing demand for food aid.

Inflation jumped after the pandemic to as high as 6.6 percent in October 2022, but has fallen over the past two years. July’s inflation rate of 2.9 percent was the lowest since March 2021, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor data.

What the new Iowa program would look like

According to Garcia’s letter to USDA, the new state program would:

“This demonstration project leverages the power of bulk prices to offer more food to families at a lower cost and takes advantage of expansive volunteer networks to efficiently distribute and deliver food to Iowa families in need,” Garcia wrote.

Reaction from lawmakers

Iowa Sen. Izaah Knox, a Democrat from Des Moines who is executive director of the food pantry Urban Dreams, said he sees the need for good food assistance programs. He said Urban Dreams served 1,900 visitors in July.

“The need is real. I see it every day in my line of work … and food insecurity in our state needs to be meaningfully addressed,” Knox said in a statement. “I look forward to continuing to work with our state government leaders on their summer food waiver application to the USDA, and will do everything I can to get this new program off the ground successfully for summer 2025 and potentially year-round in the future.”

Iowa Rep. Sami Scheetz, a Democrat from Cedar Rapids, said in a statement that House Democrats “strongly disagree” with Reynolds’ decision to forego participating in the federal program. Scheetz also praised the activists who advocated to the governor.

“This summer, thousands of Iowa kids went without food assistance because Gov. Reynolds rejected federal funds and decided to play politics. It’s a tragic situation that cannot happen again,” Scheetz said in a statement. “While we strongly disagree with the governor’s decision to yet again reject federal funding to feed 485,000 Iowa kids next summer, we will try to work with the governor to make sure no kid goes hungry. It’s not complicated: drop the politics and feed hungry kids.”

Comments: (515) 355-1300, erin.murphy@thegazette.com

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