If approved, Iowa would offer healthy food at distribution sites over the summer instead of monthly payments to low-income families.
Marsha Frederick (left) and Kristine Brown (right) prepare lunch boxes for students at Johnson STEAM Academy in Cedar Rapids in June 2023. (Nick Rohlman/The Gazette)
DES MOINES – Iowa will use federal funds 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 had applied for an exemption from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Summer EBT program, which provides low-income Iowa families with an extra $40 per month to pay for groceries during the summer months when their children are out of school.
Iowa has requested that the state be allowed to use the federal funds instead to expand a state grant program that the Reynolds administration created this year after it excluded Iowa from the Summer EBT program. That decision meant Iowa turned down $29 million in federal funds; Reynolds instead allocated $900,000 in federal pandemic relief funds to the new state grant program.
Under the new waiver request, the additional $40 per month that goes to low-income Iowa families through the federal program would no longer go to Iowa. Instead, Iowa could use the funds to provide healthy food at distribution sites during the months of June, July and August.
Reynolds’ office said the state program would be expanded to families earning 200 percent of the federal poverty level or less — so $25,820 for a family of three or $36,580 for a family of five, for example. The current eligibility limit for the Summer EBT is 185 percent of the federal poverty level. The proposed state program would also provide a delivery option for families with transportation issues, according to the governor’s office.
Reynolds’ office estimates the new state proposal would feed 60,000 more Iowa children than the federal Summer EBT program. Reynolds said the proposal would leverage existing infrastructure and promote healthier foods.
“Together with Iowa HHS and the Department of Education, the state is proposing a summer feeding demonstration project that is better tailored to our state’s specific needs and capabilities,” Reynolds said. “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 to school children statewide. Our 2025 plan builds on this concept to promote food security and better health for more Iowa children.”
Luke Elzinga, board chair of the Iowa Hunger Coalition, said the group is grateful to Reynolds and state agency leaders for proposing an expansion of Iowa’s current summer food assistance program. But Elzinga also said the group believes low-income families are best served through direct financial assistance, as is provided under the federal program.
“We really want to thank the governor, HHS Director Kelly Garcia and Education Director McKenzie Snow for this decision,” Elzinga said. “It’s not quite what we were hoping for, but we appreciate the state recognizing the high levels of food insecurity currently across Iowa. We’re excited to learn more about the state’s proposed approach.”
Reynolds and other state agency leaders say the state program gives Iowa’s children healthier options by offering them more nutritious foods. Elzinga disputes that claim, saying that when low-income families have more money to spend on food, they tend to buy nutritious foods.
Last week, the Iowa Hunger Coalition and other advocacy groups delivered to Reynolds a petition signed by more than 3,500 Iowa residents calling on the governor to re-enroll Iowa in the Summer EBT program.
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