Massachusetts preschool development birth through five (PDG-b-5) - massachusetts has made early education and child care a central priority, with the executive office of education (EOE) and the…

The Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families awarded the Massachusetts Department of Early Education & Care $11.971 million on December 31, 2025, under the Preschool Development Grants Birth Through Five program (CFDA 93.434).

The grant funds two outcome strategies to strengthen Massachusetts' early education and care system. First, the recipient will maximize family choice in accessing affordable early education and child care by augmenting a family portal that integrates information about available programs and building enhanced help desk support to improve family access to care options. The portal will centralize information about early education programs and community resources, enabling families to find and enroll in needed care. Second, the grant will develop system cohesion and operational efficiency by building business operations training and technical assistance for program directors and administrators, streamlining program administrative processes, and developing state-level strategies to braid early education funding streams in support of sustainable program operations.

Performance occurs in Massachusetts with an ultimate completion date of December 30, 2026. The Massachusetts Department of Early Education & Care, a division of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the state's Lead Agency for administering federal child care and early education funding, is the recipient. As the state lead, the department typically distributes portions of federal grants to schools, nonprofits, community organizations, and other sub-awardees to expand early childhood services statewide.

Massachusetts preschool development birth through five (PDG-b-5) - massachusetts has made early education and child care a central priority, with the executive office of education (EOE) and the department of early education and care (EEC) leading statewide policy, investment, and system alignment. The PDG b-5 systems-building grant will focus on two key outcome strategies: maximizing family choice in accessing affordable early education and care and developing a more cohesive system to support program operational efficiency and sustainability. First, the commonwealth will work toward its key strategic action goals of families accessing information about early education and care programs and community resources, so they can find and enroll in the care they need and providing families who need assistance paying for child care with centralized access to the information they need to learn about and easily apply for support. The grant will support substantial progress in two core areas: 1) augmenting a new family portal that integrates and makes more accessible information about available programs and 2) building more effective help desk support to improve family access to their care of choice. Second, the commonwealth will work toward its key strategic action goals of program directors and administrators having access to trainings and resources that empower them to succeed as small businesses with predictable funding opportunities that help support priority investment areas, analyzing how current funding streams work together to support program operations, and building better system integration and updated technology systems that improve the user experience. The grant will also support critical work in three areas: 1) building business operations training and technical assistance support systems, 2) streamlining program administrative processes, and 3) developing state level strategies to support effective braiding of early education funds in service of sustainable program operations.