Double Up Food Bucks seeks state funds to restore access to 2021 levels

By Michael Crumb

When federal coronavirus relief funding expired at the end of 2021, the Iowa Healthiest State Initiative had to scale back its food assistance program that is designed to put fresh produce in the hands of low-income Iowans.

Now, faced with cuts of about 40% in the number of counties and stores that participate in the Double Up Food Bucks program, administrators are looking to the Statehouse for help in hopes of restoring access to thousands of Iowans.

The healthy food incentive program allows Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly food stamps) customers to match purchases made with their Electronic Benefit Transfer card up to $10 per day with Double Up Food Bucks, which can be spent on fresh produce. Double Up Food Bucks receives federal SNAP incentive funding, including a three-year grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The funds are then matched with private contributions.

Double Food Bucks was launched in 2016 and served about 660 people [about 330 families] with more than 10,600 servings of produce during its inaugural year. It climbed steadily each of the next two years, reaching about 186,000 servings of fresh produce to more than 11,500 people and 5,800 families in 2019.

When the pandemic set in in 2020, demand jumped and more than 1.2 million servings of fruits and vegetables were provided to more than 76,000 people. In 2021, those numbers more than doubled to 2.79 million servings of fresh produce to 173,000 people.

With that demand came federal CARES Act funds, which helped Double Up Food Bucks expand to 142 locations in 67 counties in 2021.

But with that funding expiring, the food assistance program has had to pull back and reduce the sites where it is offered. In 2022, the program will be offered at 90 locations in 38 counties.

To counteract the lost CARES Act funding, Double Up Food Bucks received a grant from United Way of Central Iowa to hire a lobbyist to advocate at the Legislature this session for $1 million in state funding, said Aryn McLaren, coordinator of the Double Up Food Bucks program.

“We believe a $1 million appropriation could restore the program back to its 2021 level,” McLaren said. “That could bring in about 60 grocery stores, equate to about 30,000 more families being able to access the program, if not more, and that would be 1 million-plus servings of fresh produce with those funds.”

If Double Up Food Bucks is successful in getting $1 million in state funding, that could be matched with USDA funds, McLaren said.

“So a million-dollar state investment could reap a $2 million impact for the Double Up Food Bucks program,” she said.

Currently, the Double Up Food Bucks program partners with managed care organizations, private foundations and county governments for funding that helps low-income individuals stretch their food budgets by doubling their purchases at participating sites, McLaren said.

“And then making sure those dollars are spent on fresh fruits and vegetables that are nourishing to the body,” she said. “Oftentimes food insecurity is a common way of looking at it, but what we really look at is nutrition insecurity, so making sure that the food you’re accessing has the nutrients that your body needs to live a healthy and productive life. So that is why we believe Double Up Food Bucks is able to do that and make an impact on Iowa families.”

McLaren said healthier children perform better in the classroom and healthier adults are likely to be more productive at work. Better school and work performance can help break the cycle of poverty, which often contributes to food insecurity, she said.

“It’s an investment in our workforce,” McLaren said.