Mayor's Advisory Commission on Food Access - October 1, 2026

The City of Carmel Mayor’s Advisory Commission on Food Access met October 1, 2026. Commissioners approved the September 17 minutes and heard updates on a tour of Grace Care Center’s food pantry and related services. Share Our Strength’s No Kid Hungry representative discussed the commission’s recent application to the Mayor’s Action Fund, a grant program, and described examples of grants supporting food-access navigators, summer meal sites, and community outreach. No grant award, contract, vendor selection, or other local purchasing decision was made at this meeting. The presenter also discussed Indiana’s decision not to participate in Summer EBT for 2027 and urged local officials to advocate for future participation. He estimated that new federal SNAP cost shifts could require Indiana to fund roughly $130–136 million in annual administrative costs and about $139 million in benefit costs, or approximately $270 million combined, and encouraged commissioners to inform state and federal lawmakers.

Representatives of the Indiana-based milk bank described donor-milk services, local access sites, Medicaid coverage, and a regional shortage of milk donors. They invited the commission to help share information about donation, referrals, and outreach for a planned food-access gaps document. Commissioners also discussed ways food pantries and community organizations could improve awareness and access. No procurement activity was identified; the meeting focused on food access, public-health services, grant opportunities, and advocacy.