A Letter from the Board Chair

Hi everyone! It’s me, Luke Elzinga, board chair of the Iowa Hunger Coalition.

I hope you’re having a great start to your summer! It’s a bittersweet time for Iowa, as other states are getting ready to issue their first month of benefits through Summer EBT, which was recently rebranded as SUN Bucks.

Families across the state will be grappling with additional food costs as children are out of school, and while a new grant program from the state will expand summer meal sites, significant barriers to access summer meal sites will persist for many Iowans.

But the reason I wanted to reach out to you today to thank you was to thank you for your support this past legislative session. Your calls, emails, and personal outreach to legislators did not go unnoticed!

Thanks to your help, and the help of all our advocates and partners…

  • We successfully lobbied for the creation of the Choose Iowa Food Purchasing Pilot Project, which will provide $300,000 in matching funds for local food purchases by schools, food banks, and emergency feeding organizations.

  • We worked with members of both parties to introduce legislation to invest in Double Up Food Bucks, expand free school meals, and support grocery stores located in food deserts. Unfortunately, none of these bipartisan policies advanced this session.

  • We successfully pushed back against harmful legislation that would have imposed unnecessary barriers to access public assistance for eligible non-citizens and further criminalized homelessness.

We are so appreciative of your relentless advocacy. You are the fuel that keeps us going!

IHC can only do what we do thanks to the support of our network of advocates. I want to give a special shout-out to our dues-paying members, both individuals and organizations. The financial support provided by our membership allows us to keep doing this important work.

If you are not already a dues-paying member of the Iowa Hunger Coalition, I’m asking you today to please consider becoming one. While we do have suggested contributions, we do not want cost to be a barrier that prevents any individual or organization from joining the coalition.


Want to learn more about becoming a member of IHC? We’d be happy to talk with you about the benefits of membership and joining our coalition. Contact us at iowahungercoalition@gmail.com.

At the Iowa Hunger Coalition, we’re not afraid to be bold in our advocacy. Iowa is facing a food insecurity crisis, and that requires us to challenge persistent narratives and demand more from our elected officials. If you haven’t already seen, we are excited to unveil our new mission and guiding principles. I hope they resonate with you as much as they’ve resonated with our board of directors and membership.

Mission:

Working to end hunger in Iowa through education, advocacy, and policy change rooted in justice.

Guiding Principles:

  • Hunger is a policy choice.
  • Nutritious food is a human right.
  • Ending hunger requires solidarity, not just charity.

Finally, I want to invite you to attend IHC’s annual meeting on Tuesday, June 25, from 1:00-3:00pm. Like last year, we’ll be meeting at the DMARC Food Pantry Network, 100 Army Post Road, Des Moines, Iowa – with a virtual option to attend as well. Lunch will be served starting at 12:00pm for in-person attendees.


Our network of advocates never fails to impress me. We constantly punch above our weight. We take stances and push for policies other organizations shy away from. We challenge the status quo. We lead with empathy, and acknowledge we always have room to improve. And perhaps most important of all: we support, encourage, and inspire each other.

I can’t say it enough: thank you for all you do. I, along with the entire IHC board of directors, am so appreciative of your support.

And don’t forget—I’m always just an email away. Please reach out to me at iowahungercoalition@gmail.com if you ever want to chat.

I hope we’re able to connect soon,

Luke Elzinga
Board Chair, Iowa Hunger Coalition

Digging into the Summer Meal Program Expansion Grant Award Announcement

Last Thursday, May 23, the state of Iowa announced the grant awardees for the Summer Meal Program Expansion Grant through the Iowa Department of Education. 38 school districts and host organizations were awarded a total of $900,000 to launch 61 new meal sites across the state this summer. In 2023, the average daily attendance at summer meal sites in Iowa was 21,557, reaching less than 10% of students who qualified for free and reduced price school meals.

A full list of summer meal sites for 2024 in Iowa is not yet available, but if all 512 sites from 2023 return in addition to the 61 grant award sites, the grant program will:

  • Expand the number of summer meal sites in Iowa by 11%

  • Establish summer meal sites at 12 school districts that did not host a site in 2023

  • Support purchases of locally-grown foods

The Iowa Hunger Coalition commends the Iowa Department of Education for allocating $900,000 in American Rescue Plan funding to expand meal sites this summer. About one-third of grant funding was directed to areas that did not previously have a summer meal site in 2023. This investment will certainly have a positive impact for thousands of low-income children in Iowa who could not previously access summer meals.

However, there are still numerous barriers that exist in accessing summer meal sites, even when they are closer in proximity. Most sites require students to eat the meal on-site, though some rural areas are permitted to operate “grab and go” meals. If parents or caregivers are present, in most cases they are not provided a meal, or must pay for it themselves. Children who are staying at home alone may not be able to travel to meal sites, even if they are nearby.

Summer meal sites can vary greatly in their accessibility. While most sites are “open,” meaning any child can access a free meal on a first-come, first-served basis, some sites operate as “closed enrolled” or “camp,” meaning they are only available to students enrolled in a program or camp. In 2023, 398 of 512 summer meal sites (78%) operated as “open.”

Hours and days of operation can vary from site to site as well. Many sites operate Monday-Friday, but others are only available one or two days a week. Some serve breakfast and lunch, while others only serve one meal, or in some cases, just an afternoon snack. Meal sites may only serve food within a short window of time that not all children are able to attend. Many sites operate June through August, but others are only available for a single month during the summer.

Even with the expansion grant, 176 of 327 public school districts in Iowa (54%) are not expected to have a summer meal site available in 2024. Collectively, these school districts are home to 45,843 students who qualify for free or reduced price school meals—and will have no access to school meals this summer. Had the state of Iowa participated in Summer EBT, these students would have received a total of $5.5 million in nutrition benefits.

Last December, the state of Iowa announced it would not be participating in Summer EBT, and would instead be exploring options to expand existing programs. The Summer Meal Program Expansion Grant Program was subsequently announced on April 10, 2024.

Summer EBT, also now known as SUN Bucks, is a federal childhood nutrition program that provides $40 in monthly nutrition benefits during the summer to children who qualify for free and reduced price school meals. The program is intended to complement, not replace, other USDA child nutrition programs like the Summer Food Service Program and Seamless Summer Option.

245,000 children in Iowa would have benefitted from Summer EBT, starting in just a few days, had the state chosen to participate in the program. $29 million in benefit amounts would have supported children and families who struggle to put food on the table during the summer. It would have cost the state about $9 per child to provide them with $120 in nutrition benefits.

The USDA has conducted research on Summer EBT going back to 2011, and found evidence that providing additional nutrition benefits to kids during the summer reduces childhood food insecurity and increases consumption of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and dairy (with no increase in consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages).

In most cases, the amount of Summer EBT benefits that students would have received greatly surpasses the amount of funding granted to organizations to expand summer meal sites. In two instances, the grant award to expand summer meal sites was larger than the amount of money that would have been allocated to students through Summer EBT.

  • Central Community School District was awarded $51,557 to open four summer meal sites this summer—the single largest grant award both in funding amount and number of new sites. Central Community School District did not operate any summer meal sites in 2023. There are 196 students (43% of student body) who receive free or reduced price school meals in the district, and Summer EBT would have provided a total of $23,520 in nutrition benefits to those 196 students.

  • Colo-NESCO Community School District was awarded $39,918 to open three summer meal sites this summer. The district operated one summer meal site in 2023. There are 154 students (45% of student body) who receive free or reduced price school meals in the district, and Summer EBT would have provided a total of $18,480 in nutrition benefits to those 154 students.

The Iowa Hunger Coalition anxiously awaits a complete list of 2024 summer meal sites, which will enable a more detailed analysis of the impact of the new grant program and summer meal access to be conducted.

More Details on New Summer Meal Sites and Grant Awardees

The grant awards went to 38 sponsor organizations, including:

  • 35 school districts, 12 of which (34%) did not host a summer site in 2023

  • One private school district who did not host a site in 2023, Saint Albert Catholic School/Council Bluffs Area Catholic Education System

  • Two nonprofit organizations, including one that did not host a site in 2023, Story Medical Center, which is hosting three sites located within Collins-Maxwell Community School District
    • In 2023, Collins-Maxwell Community School District hosted a site at Collins-Maxwell Elementary School—Story Medical Center received grant funding to operate a site there in 2024

  • In total, 14 of the 38 grantees did not host a site in 2023 (37%)

The grants will support 61 new summer meal sites, including:

  • 11 of 12 awarded school districts who did not operate a summer meal site in 2023 were each granted $16,639 to open a single (1) summer site in 2024

    • In total, 3,817 (37% of student body) students of these districts qualify for free or reduced price school meals

    • The private school district is also launching a single site with a $16,639 grant

  • The other new district, Central Community School District, received a grant of $51,557 to launch four sites in Summer 2024 – the most sites of any grant awarded and largest award amount.

    • 196 students (43% of student body) qualify for free or reduced price school meals

    • It would have only cost $23,520 to provide Summer EBT for these students, less than half the cost of this grant program

  • Among the 23 school districts that DID operate summer meal sites in 2023:

    • 11 were each granted $16,639 to open an additional one (1) site in 2024:
      • Five of these 11 districts operated one site in 2023
      • Two of these 11 districts (Riceville and Spencer) operated two sites in 2023
      • Two of these 11 districts (Vinton-Shellsburg and Maple Valley-Anthon Oto) operated four sites in 2023
      • Iowa City operated 16 sites in 2023
      • Waterloo operated 19 sites in 2023

    • Six were each granted $28,279 to open an additional two (2) sites in 2024:
      • Des Moines Independent School District, which operated 46 sites in 2023 
      • Estherville Lincoln Community School District, which operated one site
      • Oskaloosa Community School District, which operated five sites
      • Riverside Community School District, which operated one site
      • Shenandoah Community School District, which operated five sites
      • Waukee Community School District, which operated five sites
  • Six were each granted $39,918 to open an additional three (3) sites in 2024:
    • Cedar Rapids Community School District, which operated 27 sites in 2023 
    • Colo-NESCO Community School District, which operated one site
    • Council Bluffs Community School District, which operated 15 sites
    • Davenport Community School District, which operated 21 sites
    • Hampton Dumont Community School District, which operated one site
    • Ottumwa Community School District, which operated six sites

2024 State of Iowa Legislative Recap

The 90th General Assembly of the Iowa State Legislature adjourned on Saturday, April 20, after a final flurry of legislative activity. In the following weeks, legislation was sent to Gov. Kim Reynolds for signature. Now, we can finally provide an update of what happened this legislative session – we’re sorry to have kept you waiting!

Choose Iowa Food Purchasing Pilot Project

One positive development this legislative session was the Choose Iowa Food Purchasing Pilot Project, which was included in an agriculture appropriations bill (SF 2421) and signed into law on May 9, 2024. This is a new pilot program that will be administered by the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship (IDALS). The bill provides $300,000 in matching funds to schools, food banks, and emergency feeding organizations to purchase fresh produce, meat and poultry, dairy products, eggs, and honey produced by a farm or business that participates in Choose Iowa.

While this is a small investment, and there are still many questions about how the pilot will be administered, we are happy to see movement in our legislature to support local food purchasing incentives for schools, food banks, and other anti-hunger organizations. We will be sure to provide more details and updates on the Choose Iowa Food Purchasing Pilot Project as they become available.

Advocates at the Iowa Food System Coalition’s Local Food and Farm Day on the Hill on January 25, 2024.

Stopping Harmful Legislation

Thanks to the work of a multitude of advocates, many harmful bills were stopped this legislative session, including two the Iowa Hunger Coalition actively opposed.

The first bill, HF 2608, would have created additional barriers for eligible non-citizens to access public assistance programs, as well as adding a vague “smuggling” provision to Iowa criminal code. This bill was unnecessary, costly, and harmful. It was one of three anti-immigrant bills introduced this session in the House Judiciary Committee.

And while HF 2608 did ultimately not advance out of Committee, another anti-immigrant bill, SF 2340, did pass both chambers and was signed into law by Gov. Kim Reynolds on April 10, 2024. Two different lawsuits have already been filed in response, one by the U.S. Department of Justice, and another by civil rights groups.

Our friends at Iowa Migrant Movement for Justice have been doing some amazing work organizing and advocating against harmful anti-immigrant legislation in our state. Please check them out if you haven’t already!

The second bill, SSB 3175, would have further criminalized homelessness and created “camps” for unhoused people. This bill appears to be the first foray into Iowa by the Cicero Institute, an Austin-based think tank that pushes laws to criminalize homeless encampments across the country. Thankfully, there was a broad coalition of opposition to this bill, and it died quickly this session—but we can assume this is not the last we’ve seen of this effort in Iowa.

Guaranteed Income Ban Signed into Law

A bill that prohibits cities and counties from implementing guaranteed income programs, HF 2319, was signed into law by Gov. Kim Reynolds on May 1, 2024. The Iowa Hunger Coalition lobbied against this bill, and was disheartened to see it signed into law.

There is currently only one guaranteed income pilot operating in Iowa, UpLift: The Central Iowa Basic Income Pilot. Preliminary purchasing data from UpLift shows that 40.8% of all funds have been spent on groceries – the single largest of all categories of spending.Despite this new law, the UpLift pilot study will still be able to be completed, and a final evaluation report is expected in spring 2026. The guaranteed income ban was model legislation of Opportunity Solutions Project, a Florida-based free market think tank, which has introduced similar legislation in a number of other states.

Lack of Meaningful Action to Address Hunger and Food Insecurity

Ultimately, we did not see meaningful action to address hunger and food insecurity during the 2024 Iowa legislative session, despite a number of bipartisan, commonsense policy proposals.

IHC board chair Luke Elzinga speaks during a Summer EBT rally on January 17, 2024.

Double Up Food Bucks
State investment in the Double Up Food Bucks (DUFB) program has been a longtime priority of IHC and other groups. We were encouraged at the start of the session to see the introduction of HF 2022, which would provide $1 million in state funding for Double Up Food Bucks. The bill was sponsored by three House Republicans: Rep. Shannon Latham, Rep. Chad Ingels, and Rep. David Young.

We believe the best way to encourage healthy eating among SNAP participants is to incentivize the purchase of fresh fruits and vegetables, which can often be prohibitively expensive. Double Up Food Bucks does exactly that. Despite broad bipartisan support, the state failed to act on Double Up Food Bucks in the 2024 legislative session.

Healthy School Meals for All
Last session, Rep. Sami Scheetz recruited nearly 20 House Republicans to co-sponsor HF 575, which would expand free school meals to all students who qualify for reduced-price school meals. The bill was still eligible for the 2024 session, but House Education Committee Chair Rep. Skyler Wheeler declined to assign the bill a subcommittee, stopping any forward momentum.

One exciting development was the introduction of HF 2368 by Rep. Matthew Rinker (a Republican), which would provide universal free school lunch in Iowa. Unfortunately, the bill language dropped the day before the first funnel deadline, and never really stood a chance.

Grocer Reinvestment Fund
While there was some initial momentum behind creating a Grocer Reinvestment Program and Fund, this measure failed to get past the legislative finish line. Rep. Brian Lohse and the Center for Rural Affairs spearheaded this effort, and the bill language went through multiple revisions (the most recent of which was HF 2599). There were some great bipartisan negotiations around this bill, including the inclusion of a $100,000 grant program for fresh fruit and vegetable processing championed by Rep. Chad Ingels. Unfortunately, this program was not included in the final budget for the state.

Summer EBT
The single best return-on-investment for Iowa’s state legislature in combating hunger and food insecurity is Summer EBT. After Gov. Kim Reynolds announced December 2023 that Iowa would not be participating in the new federal childhood nutrition program, IHC spoke out, launched a petition, organized a sign-on letter, and rallied at the Capitol, demanding the state reverse course. Summer EBT would provide $29 million in food assistance for 245,000 low-income Iowa kids.

Democrats introduced bills in the House (HF 2140) and Senate (SF 2039) that would direct the state to participate in Summer EBT. Rep. Chuck Isenhart also introduced a separate bill in the House (HF 2042), which in addition to directing the state to participate in Summer EBT, would direct $700,000 to conduct a research study on the nutritional outcomes of Summer EBT, as well as providing $2.8 million in funding for Double Up Food Bucks. None of these bills advanced.

Thank You for Your Ongoing Advocacy

Thank you to all of our anti-hunger advocates from across the state for your hard work during the 2024 legislative session! We had a few small wins this session, but with food banks, food pantries, and other anti-hunger organizations across the state facing record-breaking need, our state government needs to start getting serious on this issue.

In just a few months, we’ll be holding our 2024 Annual Meeting (more details coming soon). I hope you can join us during the legislative “off-season” to strategize how we can ensure Iowa’s state legislature prioritizes addressing hunger and food insecurity in 2025. Thank you for all you do!

House Farm Bill Proposal Threatens SNAP Purchasing Power

Last week, the lull of activity surrounding the Farm Bill burst back to life with the release of two competing frameworks. U.S. House Committee on Agriculture Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson (R-PA) released a title-by-title overview of the Farm Bill, and U.S. Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) released a summary framework of the Farm Bill in the Senate: The Rural Prosperity and Food Security Act.

The Farm Bill is a massive piece of legislation touching on a wide variety of programs and policies, and the nutrition title (Title IV) covers the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and certain other federal nutrition programs. Congress usually passes a Farm Bill every five years, but last year passed a one-year extension through September 30, 2024.

In the 2018 Farm Bill, Congress directed the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) to modernize and reformulate the Thrifty Food Plan (TFP). The Thrifty Food Plan is the lowest-cost of four food plans developed by USDA FNS, and is used to calculate benefit amounts for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). In October 2021, the modernized Thrifty Food Plan was implemented, leading to the first permanent increase to SNAP purchasing power in nearly 50 years.

Now, a provision included in the House Farm Bill framework would restrict future updates to the Thrifty Food Plan that are currently set to occur every five years (outside of annual cost of living adjustments). And while this proposal wouldn’t undo benefit gains already realized from the TFP modernization as some have proposed (including Iowa’s own Senator Chuck Grassley), it would prevent future scheduled increases.

Chairman Thompson’s proposal to freeze future Thrifty Food Plan updates would cut SNAP by $30 billion over the period of 2027-2033, including an estimated cut of $170 million in SNAP benefits for Iowans. Because the Thrifty Food Plan is used in funding formulas for other nutrition programs, it would also lead to cuts to The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP), Summer EBT, and Puerto Rico’s Nutrition Assistance Program block grant.

Iowans need a Thrifty Food Plan that continues to stay up to date with the times.

  • From October 2021 to March 2024, the TFP modernization led to over $306 million in additional SNAP benefits for Iowans struggling with hunger and food insecurity.

  • Without the TFP modernization, Iowa households would be receiving $67 less in SNAP benefits on average every month, and individuals would receive $1.11 less every day.

  • Based on Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates, freezing TFP updates (outside of inflation adjustments) would cut $170 million in SNAP benefits to Iowans over fiscal years 2027-2033, and would also deal cuts to The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP).

  • Iowans need a Thrifty Food Plan that continues to stay up to date with the times—not preventing future benefit increases and leaving people struggling to put food on the table.


Tell your member of Congress: keep SNAP benefits up to date—don’t restrict Thrifty Food Plan updates!

Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks
Iowa's 1st Congressional District
DC Office: (202) 225-6576
Contact via email

Rep. Ashley Hinson
Iowa's 2nd Congressional District
DC Office: (202) 225-2911
Contact via email

Rep. Zach Nunn
Iowa's 3rd Congressional District
DC Office: (202) 225-5476
Contact via email

Rep. Randy Feenstra
Iowa's 4th Congressional District
DC Office: (202) 225-4426
Contact via email