DES MOINES — A state grant program will fund 61 new free summer meal sites for Iowa children in low-income families, the state education department has announced.

The $900,000 grant program was created by Gov. Kim Reynolds after she declined $29 million in federal funding to remain in a federal program that provided $40 per month to low-income families for food during the summer months.

The new state program still is supported by federal dollars: Reynolds used federal pandemic assistance funding to finance the program.

Under the new Summer Meal Program Expansion Grant program, 38 grant recipients were chosen from among 43 applicants. Of the 38 recipients, 36 are public or private school districts; the others are the Northeast Iowa Food Bank in Waterloo and Story Medical Center in Nevada, Iowa. Of the recipients, 14 are new sponsors and collectively are creating 19 new meal sites in their communities.

The average grant was $23,684, and 24 of the 38 grants awarded were for $16,639. Most grant recipients will use the funding to operate between one and three summer meal sites.

But the Central Community School District in Elkader received a $51,557 grant — the largest award — to fund four meal sites. Those sites begin June 6, according to the district.

The Cedar Rapids Community School District received a $39,918 grant to fund three meal sites — at Noelridge Park, the Cedar River Academy at Taylor Elementary and the Truman Early Childhood Center. The sites will run for different time frames, according to the district’s application, but they begin June 10 at Noelridge and Truman and June 17 at Taylor.

The Marion Independent District received $16,639 for a site at Starry Elementary, from June 3 to Aug. 16, and the Iowa City Community School District also was awarded $16,639 for a site at Hills Elementary School, which will close for academic programs at the end of the school year. The meals program there will run June 17 to Aug. 2, according to the district’s application.

Among the applicants that did not receive grant funding was St. Joseph Catholic School in Marion, which had requested $93,400 over three years, including $24,100 in the first year, to expand its Seamless Summer Option program.

New meal sites were required to be in areas where at least 50 percent of the children are eligible for free or reduced-price meals.

“Through partnerships with schools and community-based providers, the Summer Meal Expansion Grant builds upon family-focused solutions to support child nutrition and well-being in the summer,” Iowa Department of Education Director McKenzie Snow said in a statement. “We commend the awardees for their leadership in growing the reach and impact of these programs, providing children with no-cost, healthy meal options in enriching environments this summer and beyond.”

The 61 new sites add to the more than 500 summer meal sites that operated in Iowa last year, according to the education department.

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. Elzinga said more than 245,000 Iowa children would have received the $40 per month from the federal Summer EBT program 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 grant program.

The new grants 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.

Free summer meal site operates will be reimbursed with the grant funds once their operating budgets are finalized, the state education department said.

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