45 States and Territories to Receive Preschool Development Grants

45 States and Territories to Receive Preschool Development Grants
January 4, 2019 | Lauren Mendoza


Big news! The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Department of Education announced that 45 states have been awarded funding through the Preschool Development Grant Birth through Five (PDG B-5), a $250 million competitive federal grant designed to improve states’ existing early childhood landscape by building upon existing federal, state, and local early care and learning investments. Though an OCC Announcement made the grant awards public today, the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) has been working with states for weeks to approve applications and negotiate awards prior to the December 31 deadline. The one-year PDG B-5 planning grants will run through December 30, 2019.

When the bipartisan Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) became law in December of 2015, it authorized the creation of a new Preschool Development Grant program, demonstrating a deliberate effort to foster connections across early learning programs and between the early learning and K-12 systems within states.

Earlier this year, HHS unveiled a funding opportunity announcement (FOA) for PDG B-5, officially beginning the implementation process for the bipartisan program authorized by Congress through ESSA. The FOA indicated an expected 40 grants would be awarded, ranging in size between $500,000 and $15 million. Remarkably, 47 jurisdictions submitted applications for grants; previously, 36 states had applied for grants through an earlier iteration of the PDG program, now referred to as Legacy PDG, which was focused on expanding states’ preschool opportunities for four-year-olds. Given the significant interest in the program, a greater number of grants were ultimately awarded ranging between $538,000 and $10.6 million.

The first year of the PDG B-5 will fund state-level needs assessments and strategic planning to optimize existing early childhood education (ECE) resources. The grants focus on three major activities: maximizing parental choice, improving transitions within early care and learning programs and with elementary schools; and improving overall quality of ECE programs. This funding offers a unique opportunity for states to consider the full range of programs, services, and funding streams that support children birth through age five and their families.

Read more: Link to sourcehttps://www.ffyf.org/45-states-and-territories-to-receive-preschool-development-grants/