Iowa puts $1 million toward summer meal sites, still faces criticism for rejecting federal funds

By HANNAH FINGERHUT
Associated Press

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa is directing nearly a million dollars in grant funding to expand summer meal sites for low-income kids. It is an effort that advocates welcome, with worries that it won’t be enough to alleviate the barriers to access that were addressed by a separate federal program — providing roughly $29 million to Iowa’s low-income families — that the state rejected. The state is allocating $900,000 to schools and nonprofit organizations that participate in certain federal programs designed to serve summer meals and snacks in counties where at least 50% of children are eligible for free or reduced-price meals.