Polk County seeks to participate in Summer EBT program, despite state's refusal

After Iowa turned down federal funds to provide additional food assistance to children in low-income families this summer, Polk County Board of Supervisors is appealing to federal officials to allow their county to participate in the federal program later this year.

The Polk County Board of Supervisors sent a letter to U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Monday, requesting that the county be allowed to participate in the 2024 Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer for Children, or Summer EBT.

Iowa was among 17 states that declined to participate in the Summer EBT program this year.

Polk County elected officials appealed to Vilsack to find a way to send federal dollars directly to the state's most populous county so that its young residents "don’t have to worry about where their next nutritional meal will come from when school is out of session," the letter states.

"Secretary Vilsack, I know you would agree, our most vulnerable children should not be overlooked," wrote Angela Connolly, chair of the Polk County Board of Supervisors. "We have a growing food insecurity crisis in Iowa’s largest county as our food pantry partners are serving record breaking numbers of families."

"Therefore, I along with my fellow board members and Polk County Administration, are offering to open a dialogue about how we as a county may be able to step in to facilitate the disbursement of the federal funding," Connolly continued.

Under the Summer EBT program, families would get $40 per month per eligible child on a prepaid debit card to purchase groceries during the summer months, when kids don't have access to daily meals at school. This additional benefit would be provided to families with children who rely on free and reduced-price school meals during the school year.

Approximately 22,000 children within Des Moines Public Schools would be eligible to receive Summer EBT benefits this year, according to the Board of Supervisors.

It's unclear how much it would cost Polk County to administer the program, if federal officials agree to their proposal. But whatever that cost may be, Connolly told the Register the Polk County Board of Supervisors are willing to pay it.

"We'll do the administration. We'll do everything there is to do to follow the federal guidelines," Connolly said in an interview with the Register. "We just want to get the money where it needs to go, and that's in the hands of families."

If Iowa had agreed to participate in the program, the state would have had to pay $2.2 million to cover half of the administrative costs. In return, the state would have received about $29 million in federal food aid for low-income families. The state had a $1.83 billion budget surplus from last fiscal year.

Food security 'in dire straits' among county residents, officials say

The decision from state officials "could not have come at a worse time" for Polk County, according to the Board of Supervisors. Food insecurity within the county, and across the state, has climbed dramatically in recent months.

The Des Moines Area Religious Council (DMARC) Food Pantry Network saw the busiest month in its nearly 50-year history in November, when 26,469 unique individuals visited one of the network's food pantries. That's a 22% increase from the previous all-time record set in August 2023, according to officials.

Of those more than 26,000 unique pantry visitors, nearly 2,300 were individuals that had never visited a network pantry before. DMARC officials say this indicates food insecurity is becoming an emerging crisis for a growing number of residents as the cost of living continues to rise.

The Food Bank of Iowa, which distributes food across 55 Iowa counties, distributed a record-breaking 2.15 million pounds of food in November, topping a previous record set during the height of the pandemic in October 2020. Of the more than 191,000 individuals served, 42% are children, officials said.

“Unfortunately, there's nothing to indicate the unprecedented need for food assistance will lessen any time soon," Food Bank of Iowa President and CEO Michelle Book said in a previous statement to the Register.

An extra $40 per month per child — or $120 total per child — could go a long way for some Polk County families in need, Connolly said.

"The issue is, I believe, in dire straits," Connolly said. "We know there's so many people that have food insecurity and kids are at risk. We want to make sure that we're able to provide this service."

State questioned nutritional value of Summer EBT program, pointed to rising childhood obesity rates

In the announcement last month from Gov. Kim Reynolds and other state agencies, Iowa officials said they declined participating in the federal program because it does not have "a strong nutritional focus," and pointed to rising obesity rates among high school-aged Iowans.

"An EBT card does nothing to promote nutrition at a time when childhood obesity has become an epidemic," Reynolds said in the news release.

In a later statement, governor’s office spokesperson Kollin Crompton pointed out that Summer EBT funds carry no requirements that they be used to purchase nutrient-rich foods such as fruits and vegetables. State-run programs, on the other hand, do require participants to provide balanced, nutritional meals.

Instead, the state says it plans to enhance and expand "already existing childhood nutrition programs."

Across the state, approximately 240,000 children would be eligible to receive those benefits this summer, according to the Food Research and Action Center.

Connolly said she "doesn't buy" the state's reasoning that families would receive no nutritional benefit from a Summer EBT card, adding that she doesn't see "any reason why we can't accept those dollars."

"You have to remember that that is the only meal in the summer that a child may get," she said. "So I think it's very important that whatever (money) they need, we need to give it to them."

When the state participated in the Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer (P-EBT) program last year, DMARC officials say only 12% of the purchases were for soda and snacks. That program ended with the end of the federal public health emergency last year.

Nationwide, other research has indicated low-income families tend to choose healthier, more nutritious food when they have additional assistance, according to the Food Research and Action Center.

In addition, Connolly pointed out that EBT cards are accepted during the summer farmer's market in Des Moines, saying that families can access food with a high nutritional value from local farmers.

"As Gov. Reynolds always says, 'we have to trust Iowans,'" Connolly said. "Well, I'm trusting Iowans and the residents of Polk County to do good by their kids so that they can have this meal."

F. Amanda Tugade contributed to this report.

Michaela Ramm covers health care for the Des Moines Register. She can be reached at mramm@registermedia.com, at (319) 339-7354 or on Twitter at @Michaela_Ramm

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Polk County seeks federal funding after Iowa turns down Summer EBT