Foa_Content_of_HHS-2022-ACF-OCC-TP-0180 Publication Version.pdf

Administration for Children and Families

Office of Child Care

Preschool Development Grant Birth through Five (PDG B-5) Renewal Grant

HHS-2022-ACF-OCC-TP-0180

Application Due Date: 11/07/2022

Table of Contents Executive Summary

I. Program Description

II. Federal Award Information

III. Eligibility Information

III.1. Eligible Applicants

III.2. Cost Sharing or Matching

III.3. Other

IV. Application and Submission Information

IV.1. Address to Request Application Package

IV.2. Content and Form of Application Submission

Required Forms, Assurances, and Certifications

The Project Description

The Project Budget and Budget Justification

Application Submission Options

IV.3. Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) and System for Award Management (SAM)

IV.4. Submission Dates and Times

Explanation of Due Dates

Acknowledgement of Received Application

IV.5. Intergovernmental Review

IV.6. Funding Restrictions

IV.7. Other Submission Requirements

V. Application Review Information

V.1. Criteria

V.2. Review and Selection Process

V.3. Anticipated Announcement and Federal Award Dates

VI. Federal Award Administration Information

VI.1. Federal Award Notices

VI.2. Administrative and National Policy Requirements

VI.3. Reporting

VII. HHS Award Agency Contact(s)

VIII. Other Information

Reference Websites

Application Checklist

Funding Opportunity Title:

Preschool Development Grant Birth through Five (PDG B-5) Renewal Grant Announcement Type:

Initial Funding Opportunity Number:

HHS-2022-ACF-OCC-TP-0180

Primary CFDA Number:

93.434 Due Date for Applications:

11/07/2022 Executive Summary Notice:

Applicants are strongly encouraged to read the entire notice of funding opportunity (NOFO) carefully and observe the application formatting requirements listed in Section IV.2. Content and Form of Application Submission. For more information on applying for grants, please visit "How to Apply for a Grant" on the ACF Grants & Funding Page at https://www.acf.hhs.gov/grants/how-apply-grant.

The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) jointly with the U.S. Department of Education (ED) (the Departments) are soliciting applications from all states that have previously received a Preschool Development Grant Birth through Five (PDG B-5) initial grant award but have not previously received and implemented a PDG B-5 Renewal Grant. The PDG B-5 Renewal Grant will fund states to build upon their initial grant activities, while considering the changing needs of children and families created by the COVID 19 Pandemic and investing in strategies that will address those needs, supporting and strengthening the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) workforce, enhancing quality, expanding access to early childhood services for children, particularly those in high-need communities, and creating seamless early learning experiences from birth through third grade.

Recipients of PDG B-5 Renewal Grant funding are encouraged to award subgrants to ECCE programs to expand access to and enhance the quality of existing services or to develop new programs that address the needs of low-income and disadvantaged young children and families. Subgrants must align with and help the state achieve the goals and objectives outlined in the applicant's strategic plan.

Recipients may also use subgrants or contracts to address ECCE system needs identified in the comprehensive B-5 needs assessment. Such activities might include the following:

improving access to ECCE programs/services for priority populations;

investing in strategies to recruit and retain a qualified ECCE workforce, such as increasing compensation (salaries/wages and benefits) and strengthening professional development opportunities and career pathways for providers across the mixed delivery system;

https://www.acf.hhs.gov/grants/how-apply-grant increasing the supply of high-quality programs in underserved communities;

building or enhancing coordinated intake, screening, eligibility, enrollment, and referral systems and strategies for reaching priority populations with high-quality services, inclusive of Part C and Part B, section 619 of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA);

improving and expanding use of their state’s integrated data system, including connecting ECCE program and K-12 data;

enhancing program standards, monitoring, and/or continuous quality improvement activities;

supporting transitions within early childhood programs and into the early elementary grades, including shared professional development and collaborative efforts to align curricula, program standards, and assessments; and/or implementing other essential investments that would lead to more effective, efficient, and coordinated ECCE services that support learning and development of infants, toddlers, and preschool-aged children from birth through the early grades.

SAM.gov System Alert | Entity Validation Delays:

Due to high demand, SAM.gov is experiencing a considerable delay in processing entity legal business name and address validation tickets. As needed, please start the process early to avoid interruptions in application submissions. You can find SAM resources related to this process here -https://www.fsd.gov/gsafsd_sp?id=kb_article_view&sysparm_article=KB0058422&sys_kb_id= 7bb8810ddba05990060d5425f3961912&spa=1.

Grants.gov Downtime |Grants.gov Going Offline:

The Grants.gov system is being migrated to the cloud and will be unavailable to users for an extended period to allow for a successful transition. The Grants.gov Production System will be offline during the following period:

Production System will go Offline Friday September 23, 2022 at 12:01 AM ET.

Production System will go Online Thursday September 29, 2022 at 11:59 PM ET.

If you are interested in this funding opportunity, you are strongly encouraged to download it and all associated attachments from Grants.gov as soon as possible so that they will be available to you during this period. For more information on what to expect, please refer to the following URL at https://grantsgovprod.wordpress.com/2022/08/08/what-to-expect-during-the-grants-gov-cloud-migration-and-extended-downtime-for-september-2022/ for details.

I. Program Description Statutory Authority This grant program is authorized by section 9212 of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), Public Law 114-95 (December 10, 2015), 42 U.S.C. 9831 note.

Description Program Purposes The initial PDG B-5 grants were designed to facilitate collaboration and coordination among existing programs within the state’s ECCE system. The purposes of the PDG B-5 Renewal Grant remain focused on strengthening the state’s integrated ECCE system to prepare low-income and disadvantaged children to enter kindergarten, and have a seamless and high-quality early https://gcc02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fsd.gov%2Fgsafsd_sp%3Fid%3Dkb_article_view%26sysparm_article%3DKB0058422%26sys_kb_id%3D7bb8810ddba05990060d5425f3961912%26spa%3D1&data=05%7C01%7CRichard.Gonzales%40ACF.hhs.gov%7Cd3bd6ae4e93449e67f1308da8a9f3555%7Cd58addea50534a808499ba4d944910df%7C0%7C0%7C637974713638357744%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=vJiPZd%2FA5wakuDOC8mronxPcbafV4GrAq8EfZPi3ulY%3D&reserved=0 https://www.fsd.gov/gsafsd_sp?id=kb_article_view&sysparm_article=KB0058422&sys_kb_id=7bb8810ddba05990060d5425f3961912&spa=1 https://www.fsd.gov/gsafsd_sp?id=kb_article_view&sysparm_article=KB0058422&sys_kb_id=7bb8810ddba05990060d5425f3961912&spa=1 https://grantsgovprod.wordpress.com/2022/08/08/what-to-expect-during-the-grants-gov-cloud-migration-and-extended-downtime-for-september-2022/ https://grantsgovprod.wordpress.com/2022/08/08/what-to-expect-during-the-grants-gov-cloud-migration-and-extended-downtime-for-september-2022/ childhood experience from birth through 3rd grade, by investing in the early childhood workforce and expanding access to high-quality early care and education programs and supports provided through a comprehensive mixed delivery system. Through this renewal grant, states can pursue objectives that the data, research, or needs assessment has indicated is needed within their own state to help break down barriers and improve access to higher quality early childhood services.

The pandemic has highlighted the importance of the ECCE system and the ways it supports young children’s development and family economic security. In the wake of the pandemic, many early childhood programs struggle to operate sustainably and to recruit and retain qualified staff.

Families have experienced stress, impacting children’s mental health and emotional development. Children, parents, and providers have more acute needs, placing strain on an early childhood system that was strained prior to the pandemic.

The PDG B-5 Renewal Grants will assist states to expand or build upon their initial grant work and address gaps in their early childhood system that were exacerbated by the COVID-19 crisis.

This includes efforts for improving workforce conditions, such as compensation initiatives;

recruitment and retention efforts to ensure a qualified ECCE workforce; social-emotional resources for children, families, and providers; cross sector professional learning opportunities supporting child development from birth through 3rd grade; data-driven decision-making;

engaged families; continuity of pathways; and the use of resources to serve additional children in high-quality ECCE settings. The Departments encourage applicants to propose approaches to ensure that the most vulnerable families, including those living in high-poverty and rural communities, have access to ECCE services, such as through the expansion of ECCE programs in underserved communities, and support for the ECCE workforce in those communities.

States will be expected to update their needs assessment and strategic plan, effectively coordinate existing programs, engage parents and providers in programs and policy, improve quality and expand access to mixed delivery programs and services to prepare children to enter kindergarten ready to succeed, improve transitions from early childhood programs to the local educational agency or elementary school, and further support early school success through efforts to coordinate and align instruction from birth through 3rdgrade.

To achieve this, states must:

Leverage existing federal, state, local, and non-governmental resources to strengthen coordination and delivery of services across programs, such as by enhancing partnerships among Head Start programs, child care providers, home visiting programs, preschool programs, early intervention services, preschool special education programs, health and public health services, state and local governments, Indian tribes and tribal organizations, private entities (including faith-based organizations and community-based organizations, foundations, and other nonprofits, and schools), and local educational agencies;

Develop recommendations to improve the equitable participation of children, particularly vulnerable, underserved, or unserved children, including children who are dual/multi-language learners, and children with, or at risk for, developmental delays or disabilities;

Improve program quality across participating programs by aligning program standards and coordinating professional development activities across the birth through eight years, while maintaining access and availability of services, including through investments in ECCE workforce compensation and professional development;

Maximize family and parental choice, and knowledge of and engagement with existing programs in the state’s mixed delivery system, easing access to services;

Invest in and support the early childhood workforce, including developing pathways to licensure, credentialing, and degrees;

Help ECCE programs to identify and access resources that can support long-term stability;

Improve school readiness for groups of children who experience the largest achievement gaps, including children of color who live in poverty, children with or at risk for developmental delays or disabilities, dual/multi-language learners, and children who are eligible for or receive social services; and

Elevate and support efforts to coordinate instructional alignment and developmentally appropriate learning experience from birth through 3rd grade.

Program Approach The program approach should be appropriate for the funding level and timeline of the Renewal Grant. The Departments encourage states to propose a program approach designed to improve services for low-income and disadvantaged children and those living in rural areas, and to consider all available funding streams in the state to maximize the proposed program's impact. The Departments anticipate that these renewal grant applications will reflect changing needs that have come about as a result of the COVID-19 health crisis. Each State will want to consider any COVID-19 implications as it determines how best to build upon and improve its early childhood system, given the current realities within the state. The following overarching priorities and approaches should be considered when designing your program.

Support the early childhood workforce through such efforts as:

o Compensation initiatives to move early childhood staff, including center-based and family child care providers, directors, and family child care owners, to pay parity based on experience and credentials, including wages and benefits in line with elementary educators;

o Provision of ongoing practice-based mentoring, coaching, and professional development to address the needs and improve the effectiveness of the PDG B-5 workforce, as the state works on developing its proposed approaches to improving outcomes for children and families;

o Access to scholarships and other resources, including substitute pools, transportation subsidies, child care, and place-based programs, to help access credentials and degrees;

o Consideration of how best to support the career development and improve the training and experience of staff (including school-based, center-based, and family child care providers) across the mixed delivery system, including those serving infants and toddlers;

o Development or expansion of the Child Care Health Consultant workforce and broader workforce development to support the integration of health and safety standards and best practices within ECCE; and o Provision of health supports, including mental health, for the early childhood workforce.

Promote an integrated B-5 ECCE system: Consider promoting an integrated B-5 ECCE system, which reflects a mix of programs and services across the B-5 ECCE system. In developing the application, the state should involve kindergarten and other systems beyond traditional early childhood programs in order to build or strengthen linkages across system partners, including schools and the health care system, to support family engagement, developmental health and family well-being promotion, screening, referrals, and identifying gaps--particularly in rural areas--and improve health care access for vulnerable families. An integrated approach should also address issues faced by families as they approach the end of their eligibility for various programs and strive to minimize the loss of public assistance benefits, also known as cliff effects.

Promote ECCE program sustainability: Focus on identifying strategies and approaches to support existing ECCE programs' sustainability to maximize the supply of high-quality ECCE programs and services.

Expand meaningful community and family engagement and leadership: Prioritize meaningful engagement of leadership by a variety of ECCE and school partners, including parents, providers, community leaders, and faith-based partners, in all stages of project planning and implementation, and clearly articulate in the state's approach. This engagement should include opportunities for parents and family members, including those from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds, to meaningfully participate in shaping the approaches the state is taking.

Ensure inclusion of children with, or at risk of, disabilities: Demonstrate an intentional approach and clear commitment to developing policies, dedicating resources, collecting data, implementing professional development (including training for providers working with infants and toddlers with disabilities), and supporting practices that enable children with, or at risk of, disabilities and their families to access ECCE programs that support their full participation in the least restrictive environment and leverages the extensive experience and knowledge of parents of children with, or at risk of, disabilities about their children’s needs.

Address suspensions, expulsions, and other exclusionary practices: Develop and implement policies and supports to eliminate suspensions and expulsions of young children, as well as all inappropriate and ineffective disciplinary practices including corporal punishment, seclusion, and inappropriate use of restraints, especially in demographic groups identified through research studies as being at elevated risk for suspensions and expulsions, and provide resources to early childhood providers and elementary schools to meet the needs of all children, including their social-emotional and behavioral needs.

Incorporate trauma-informed approaches: Incorporate trauma-informed approaches for ECCE programs and providers to buffer the impact of trauma and adverse childhood experiences, thereby increasing each child’s chances for success in early childhood, kindergarten, and the early grades.

Develop and implement coordinated application, eligibility, and enrollment systems: In partnership with other programs across the B-5 ECCE system, develop and implement a coordinated outreach and enrollment system that helps families apply for and receive benefits and services across a range of programs and identify and access high-quality ECCE programs and services that best meet their needs.

Alignment with Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) activities: Build on and align with CCDF funding, including COVID-19 relief funding investments, to stabilize the child care sector, strengthen the workforce by increasing wages and benefits, increase provider payment rates to cover the cost of quality child care services, improve subsidy payment policies, build the supply of child care for underserved populations, and expand access to child care assistance for more families.

Support effective and appropriate transitions: Ensure that ECCE programs, schools and community providers have policies and processes in place to transition children between and across programs. This includes developmentally appropriate practices, effective kindergarten transitions, and instructional alignment.

Build infant-toddler care capacity: Build capacity to meet the need for high-quality infant/toddler services across the state's mixed delivery system, including center-based care; family child care; home visiting services; and early intervention services as required by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), Part C.

Provide services to underserved children: Increase access to critical resources for underserved children birth through age 5, including dual or multi-language learners, children experiencing homelessness, children involved with the child welfare system, children in kinship care, children being raised by grandparents, children with special health care needs, children with parents or caregivers working non-traditional hours, children of migrant and seasonal workers, children in immigrant families, children who have experienced trauma, such as those who lost a caregiver during the pandemic, etc., to eliminate inequities in access to and success in a rigorous, culturally and linguistically responsive and engaging curriculum and in access to fully certified, experienced, and effective teachers; and to address policies, practices, and procedures that contribute to significant disproportionality in early childhood programs for dual or multi-language learners based on race or ethnicity.

Program Activities States applying for a Renewal Grant must articulate how they will build upon activities conducted as part of their initial PDG B-5 grant, or activities in the years that followed that grant, including the following:

Activity One: Update Comprehensive Statewide, B-5 Needs Assessment

Revising, refining and/or enhancing their comprehensive, statewide, B-5 needs assessment ensuring it is updated periodically thereafter, including at least once more during the renewal grant award. The process to update the needs assessment should involve key stakeholders impacted by the system, including families and providers and those from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds, in contributing to data collection, interpreting results, continuous improvement, and ensuring these activities are supported by goals in the strategic plan. The needs assessment findings must guide the rest of the proposed project and may include the following:

exploring additional elements not previously assessed by, or identified as, initial gaps related to the availability and quality of existing programs in the state, and needs associated with the sustainability of existing programs, particularly in the period of time between when the initial grant ended and when this renewal grant will begin;

leveraging existing needs assessments from other programs and including additional data to identify emerging or previously unidentified needs, such as those resulting from the COVID-19 public health emergency, as well as programs serving the most vulnerable or underserved populations and children in rural areas;

assessing needs associated with the early childhood workforce, considering the impact of COVID-19 on the capacity, health, and well-being of the workforce. Data on the wages, benefits, degrees, training, and experience of the early childhood workforce must include a review of the training and recruitment pipeline in partnership with Institutions of Higher Education (IHE) and other providers to determine accessibility for incumbent and future early childhood personnel. In addition, the B-5 needs assessment should seek to clarify and/or provide a snapshot of the current early childhood workforce, including level of degree/credential attainment, average number of years of ECCE experience, average salary for teachers and paraprofessionals by settings, and ages of children served, and demographic makeup of the workforce, as feasible;

developing and implementing integrated or collaborative state data systems and supporting data sharing to strengthen and enhance information on children and family needs, as well as the needs of the ECCE workforce; and assessing the extent to which health and early learning systems are working together in a coordinated manner to engage families early and equitably and meet the needs of children and families.

Activity Two: Update Statewide B-5 Strategic Plan

Revising, refining, enhancing, and/or implementing a statewide B-5 strategic plan that recommends opportunities for collaboration, coordination, partnership, and quality improvement activities across the state B-5 ECCE system. The strategic plan should be based on the most current needs assessment findings and aimed at strengthening the existing state B-5 ECCE system. Specific areas of focus for updates to the strategic plan may include:

new opportunities to respond to critical needs/challenges of the workforce by providing additional supports, including improved provider compensation (e.g., wages and benefits), wellness, and professional development.

plans to expand access to ECCE programs and services for eligible children through a mixed delivery system by expanding or supporting existing programs or establishing new programs in underserved communities.

plans to make quality improvements to meet the needs of children and families in existing programs (e.g., increase program duration to meet the needs of working families, reduce teacher-child ratios, invest in coaching and curricular supports, etc.).

recommendations for new partnership opportunities to improve coordination, program quality, and delivery of services.

Activity Three: Maximize Parent and Family Engagement in the B-5 System

Maximizing parent and family choice and knowledge about the state's mixed delivery system of programs and providers by establishing consistent parent engagement policies and expanding the state's efforts to support family choice. This can be accomplished by ensuring families are provided information in ways that are accessible to them (e.g., primary language, reading levels, accessible format, digital and hard copy, and through outreach partnerships to all communities) about the variety and locations of ECCE programs and services that are available, as well as promoting and increasing efforts to involve parents and family members in policy decisions and programmatic activities to support children’s development and their transitions from ECCE into elementary school, and continued engagement through the early grades to build strong partnerships between parents and teachers to support learning at school and home. Approaches may include:

ensuring training and leadership opportunities are provided equitably and in culturally and linguistically responsive ways so that family voice and input in the development of the needs assessment, strategic plan and program performance evaluation plan, and family participation in program-level decisions, including program policies and planning, are broadly represented with a variety of perspectives that:

o include family voice in policy and program decisions affecting the mixed delivery system and meaningfully engage families to improve or develop state policies and practices that drive the ECCE system.

o provide opportunities for state leaders to learn from parents what they want and need to know, and their preferences for meaningful family engagement in their young children's care and education.

collaborating with existing programs, sharing information with families about program quality (e.g., through inspection reports, quality rating improvement systems (QRIS), etc.), program type, and locations of early childhood programs and services, including health, mental health, early intervention/early childhood special education, and family support for children from birth into kindergarten entry. This includes:

o improving the availability and usefulness of information for families about high-quality early childhood programs and programs to ensure family choice and help families access such programs.

o increasing parents’ B-5 knowledge, skills, and resources to promote strong parent-child relationships that are the foundation of healthy child development, focusing on implementing two-generational approaches that focus on family well-being.

o coordinating partnerships at the state or local level to ensure all parents are informed about and connected to other services needed, such as housing, food, training or employment programs, and income supports.

promoting nurturing parent-child interactions and family and community protective factors.

increasing meaningful parent and family engagement in all aspects of their children’s care and education, including decision-making and goal setting for their child and planning for transitions into elementary school and into other ECCE programs and services.

o supporting families—including those with a home language other than English; those representing historically underserved communities; and families from culturally, geographically, and linguistically diverse communities—to engage as leaders.

o ensuring that parents, including those with limited English proficiency, who have concerns about their child’s development or are aware of an existing disability are informed about existing services and programs and connected to resources that include access to high-quality inclusive programs as well as IDEA Part C and Part B services.

developing application practices that promote family choice and access to high-quality ECCE settings by minimizing paperwork burdens on families, simplifying application processes, promoting stability and continuity of care (such as through 12-month eligibility), and increasing use of contracts for program access.

Activity Four: Support the B-5 Workforce and Disseminate Best Practices

Sharing best practices and identifying workforce supports and trainings among ECCE providers to leverage funding and other resources, increase collaboration, coordination, and alignment, and improve transitions that happen across all age spans in early childhood from birth through 3rd grade. The Departments encourage applicants to consider and propose systematic investments to support the ECCE workforce, as well as investments to support ECCE providers at the community and/or program level. Strategies may include:

improving collaborative, cross-sector professional development for early childhood providers and connections with early grade teachers, including practice-based coaching, mentoring, using data to plan classroom activities, and other needed professional development, as determined by the state and its communities;

providing interdisciplinary professional development to build shared understanding and connections across ECCE and health and human service providers that serve families with young children, as well as with education providers that will continue to support children and families as they progress into the early grades;

providing resources and technical assistance to ECCE providers and directors to support program sustainability, reduce administrative burden, and promote shared learning;

developing initiatives, studies, or analyses to support the recruitment into and retention of individuals into the ECCE workforce, including:

o increasing compensation for ECCE workers to align with educational and quality standards for teachers and paraprofessionals across early childhood settings to reach pay parity with elementary school educators with similar experience and credentials, and a living wage for all staff;

o offering hiring or retention payments to recruit new staff or address turnover;

o sharing information with providers about increased child care subsidy payment rates;

o expanding access to benefits for the ECCE workforce (e.g., paid leave, health insurance, child care, loan forgiveness, retirement benefits);

building a statewide early childhood workforce infrastructure that ensure providers are professionally prepared and well supported by strengthening career pathways and professional development opportunities for the ECCE workforce to build a pipeline of effective early educators including those who serve infants and toddlers, maintain the diversity of the workforce, and provide more equitable access to qualified teachers for children across settings and ages. Strategies include:

o offering scholarships and financial support to address barriers to credential and degree attainment (e.g., tuition, fees, books, transportation, child care, substitutes, credential/licensing fees, etc.).

o partnering with IHE and other entities to develop articulation agreements, and aligned credentials (including stackable trainings, credit for prior learning and microcredentials) and degree programs.

o building innovative pathways for non-traditional students and incumbent early educators that consider practical skills and knowledge gained in the field, allow for coursework to be completed on the job site, and Registered Apprenticeship programs or other practice-based learning that lead towards a credential or degree.

o promoting staff wellness (e.g., policies that guarantee breaks during the work day, providing mentoring, coaching, and mental health consultation for ECCE staff and providers).

expanding supports for the early childhood workforce to enable sharing of best practices and professional development to successfully implement inclusive and high-quality programming that does not use suspension and expulsion or inappropriate discipline practices, addresses trauma and supports children’s behavioral health needs, and meets the unique needs of underserved populations as they transition from infant and toddler care through preschool and into the early grades (such as children with disabilities, special health care needs, dual language learners, children experiencing homelessness, in foster care, etc.), through:

o family child care networks, shared services models, or other hub models that provide comprehensive services or referrals;

o substitute pools or other business supports; and o coaching, mentoring, or other practice-based or interdisciplinary professional development that allows for coordination and alignment across sectors.

supporting the development of strong early childhood systems to facilitate transitions and referrals across programs, including health care, social services, nutrition programs, home visiting, and other early childhood programs.

Activity Five: Support Program Quality Improvement

Improving the overall quality of early childhood programs and services in the state, including by investing in compensation initiatives, professional development and other supports for early childhood staff, and enhancing educational opportunities for children. Building upon Activity Four efforts to support the ECCE workforce, Activity Five tasks may focus on further developing the necessary skills to allow that workforce to implement high-quality practices leading to needed program quality improvements. Strategies may include:

initiatives designed to increase access to high-quality, inclusive care, especially in traditionally underserved communities, and for infants and toddlers and children with disabilities, or at risk of a disability.

approaches to build the supply of high-quality providers as well as comprehensive services and supports across settings in the early childhood mixed delivery system, such as through the development and/or support of partnerships across programs including Head Start, Early Head Start, child care (including family child care), state preschool and other service hub models, early intervention, early childhood special education and schools to expand access to full-day and full-year high-quality services.

developing and implementing outreach, enrollment, and evidence-based practices that ensure inclusion of all children, especially children at risk of or with disabilities, special health care needs, developmental or behavioral health needs, or other priority populations, such as children experiencing homelessness.

developing and implementing equitable and culturally responsive practices for all children, families, and providers, including children who are dual or multi-language learners and their families, dual or multi-lingual providers, and individuals from historically marginalized communities; and ensuring continuity from early childhood settings into the early grades, supporting home language and parent engagement in language instruction improving developmental, social-emotional, and other learning opportunities for children B-5 by providing such supports as social emotional and behavioral health specialists.

enhancing program standards, curriculum, coaching, and assessment of child outcomes across programs, including potential alignment with the Head Start Program Performance Standards and other nationally recognized standards from birth to 3rd grade.

developing statewide continuous quality improvement approaches, such as enhancing and aligning monitoring systems.

reducing the administrative burden on ECCE providers with a focus on family child care providers, teachers, and program administrators.

strengthening systems needed for data sharing, analysis, and use; monitoring and quality improvement; accountability, effective governance, communication, and decision-making.

identifying possible future action steps to update early childhood facilities in response to planned ECCE expansion, including the design, development, finance, and ongoing maintenance of facilities that can support high-quality early childhood programs.

Activity Six: Subgrants to Enhance Quality and Expand Access to Existing and New Programs

Recipients under this grant program may opt to transfer a portion of substantive programmatic work to other organizations through subgrant(s). The prime recipient is responsible for oversight of all programmatic, financial, and administrative matters, including reporting, related to the grant. This responsibility includes oversight of these matters as they relate to the subrecipient(s).

In addition, the prime recipient must maintain a substantive role in the project. ACF defines a substantive role as conducting activities and/or providing services funded under the award that are necessary and integral to the completion of the project. Subrecipient monitoring activities alone, as specified in 45 CFR § 75.352, do not constitute a substantive role. Furthermore, ACF does not fund awards where the role of the applicant is primarily to serve as a conduit for passing funds to other organizations unless that arrangement is authorized by statute. See Section IV.6.

Funding Restrictions for more information.

The Departments encourage states to propose use of PDG B-5 grant funds for comprehensive ECCE services within the state’s mixed delivery system, expanding access to, or enhancing the quality of existing programs and/or developing new programs, to meet the unique and unmet needs of children and families in communities across the state. States may subgrant up to 60 percent of grant funds in the first year, and up to 75 percent in years 2 and 3 of the project period to fund comprehensive ECCE services within the state’s mixed delivery system. Subgrants can be used to (A) expand access to existing programs, (B) develop new early childhood programs to meet the unique and unmet needs of children and families in communities across the state, or (C) enhance the quality of existing programs. Applicants may select any or all subgrant categories, which are outlined below.

1. Subgrant Option A: Subgrants given directly to local programs in targeted communities to expand access to existing programs across the state.

2. Subgrant Option B: Subgrants to local programs to develop new ECCE programs in a mixed delivery system to address the needs of children and families that are eligible for, but not served by, early childhood programs.

3. Subgrant Option C: Subgrants to local programs to improve the quality of their existing programs.

Subgranting strategies may include:

funding new ECCE slots through existing or new ECCE programs extending the duration of existing programs/slots to support full-day/full-year ECCE programming;

implementing workforce supports, including increased teacher and staff compensation (wages and benefits), bonuses and/or retention payments, supports for ECCE workforce wellness; and providing opportunities for practice-based professional development and degree/credential attainment;

other activities that would enhance the quality of early childhood services available to families throughout the state, such as:

o providing multilingual resources and professional development supports to providers and families to support early learning and development of dual language learners;

o improving culturally and linguistically responsive and valid screening and assessment processes;

o deploying early childhood health or mental health specialists;

o supporting hubs, partnerships, networks, and shared services efforts;

o supporting and targeting services for children experiencing housing instability;

and o integrating services and strengthening referral networks with behavioral health and health services.

Applicants must prioritize services funded through this activity to improve areas in which there are state-identified needs that would improve services for low-income and disadvantaged children, including those living in rural areas. States should ensure that subgrant opportunities are available to a diverse range of groups, including diversity of race, ethnicity, or national origin, disability status, etc. A state may also identify opportunities for children experiencing homelessness and build capacity for high-quality, infant-toddler services across the state’s mixed delivery system, including approaches that increase access to health care, mental health services, and dental care.

Bonus Options Coordinated Application, Eligibility, Enrollment for Families States have the option to develop a pilot or expand existing efforts related to coordinated application/enrollment or centralized eligibility, waitlist, and enrollment systems development, that includes consultation with parents, in order to make determinations that streamline enrollment for families who may be eligible for multiple programs and supports. These programs support child health and development, early learning, and family economic stability, leading to more efficient use of dollars across programs. Programs to consider aligning include Head Start;

Early Head Start; home visiting; Healthy Start; Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC); Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP);

Child Care subsidies; pre-kindergarten (pre-k); Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF); Medicaid; and others. Additional possible strategies include:

Providing one point of access and/or aligned eligibility for services in coordination with all other early learning programs in the state’s ECCE mixed delivery system and support services within the state in order to minimize burden on families and maximize access to needed supports.

Align eligibility requirements and redetermination of eligibility timelines across programs (i.e., if family is participating in Medicaid, proof of income eligibility can be considered verified for other programs; align redetermination for eligible for child care subsidy with SNAP, Medicaid, etc., to minimize administrative burden for families).

Coordinate enrollment in the state’s early childhood care and education mixed delivery system.

Provide unique state identifiers to all children, including those enrolled in Early Head Start and Head Start, to enable seamless referrals and transitions as children move through early childhood systems, or if unique identifiers are not going to be used, address why not and what will take their place.

Develop data sharing agreements across state agencies, between state agencies and local Head Start programs, and between health care and other childhood programs and services, to support seamless transitions, referrals, and follow-up in the interest of a unified statewide early childhood system.

See Section IV.2. The Project Description, Approach and Section V.1. Criteria for more information on application requirements and evaluation criteria related to this bonus option.

Improving Workforce Compensation States also have the option to develop a pilot or expand existing efforts to improve the compensation of the early childhood workforce. Examples include:

Design and implement wage scales/ladders linked to competencies, credentials, and degrees that include increased compensation.

Invest in increased compensation and/or strategies leading to increased compensation for the ECCE workforce across the ECCE mixed delivery system such that all staff can meet basic needs based on local cost of living and community context.

Establish apprenticeship programs that provide financial and other supports (i.e., wages, tuition, fees, child care, transportation, substitutes) to remove barriers to completion in credentialing programs and lead to increased compensation upon completion.

Design and implement collaborations that support new workforce to attain credentials and degrees with a focus on increasing the number of multilingual teachers. Such collaborations could involve local adult education programs, technical/career high schools, community colleges, and 4-year higher education institutions.

See Section IV.2. The Project Description, Approach and Section V.1. Criteria for more information on application requirements and evaluation criteria related to this bonus option.

Increasing Access to Inclusive Settings Develop a pilot or expand on existing efforts to increase the number of inclusive early childhood settings and decrease the number of segregated preschool special education programs. Examples include:

Providing mental health consultation, trauma-informed care training and coaching, and any related financial supports for providers to ensure children with behavioral issues are successful in typical settings.

Providing training and coaching and related financial supports (e.g., additional classroom staff to support lower ratios, paid staff time to support individualized education program/individualized family service plan (IEP/IFSP) development and related meetings, minor facility/playground adaptations and equipment purchases) to ensure programs are accessible and have the necessary adaptive equipment to support children with disabilities.

Providing training to instructional leaders and administrators on the resources, staffing models, and services for children with disabilities and their families to support inclusive programing, including how best to layer funding.

Providing incentives to redesign or restructure existing preschool programs and service delivery models so that classrooms are not segregated or composed of a majority of children with disabilities.

Developing incentives to strengthen collaboration between lead agencies, Local Education Agencies (LEAs) and community-based ECCE programs to provide early intervention early childhood education services in inclusive public and private early childhood programs (e.g., Head Start, child care, and private pre-k).

See Section IV.2. The Project Description, Approach and Section V.1. Criteria for more information on application requirements and evaluation criteria related to this bonus option.

Program Requirements Recipients are required to allocate 5 to 7 percent of the total amount of their grant award during each of the three renewal grant years to refine and implement their program performance evaluation plan. These funds should be used for such necessary activities as developing or enhancing a data system to collect, house, and use data on the populations served, and to monitor the implementation of services, the cost of providing services, and coordination across service partners.

1. Funds made available for the purpose of implementing the PDG B-5 renewal grant activities must be used to supplement, and not supplant, existing federal funding investments in the state.

2. As a condition of acceptance of an award under this NOFO, all recipients are required to participate fully in sponsored evaluations by the Departments and adhere to all evaluation protocols established by the Departments to be carried out by its designee contractors.

3. Recipients are required to budget for travel costs to send at least four individuals to Washington, DC to attend a 3-day PDG B-5 recipient meeting in each of the three years.

Post-Award State Reporting Requirements The Office of Child Care (OCC) has obtained approval from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for information collection under the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) from PDG B-5 recipients as part of post-award reporting: OMB Control No: 09970-0490; Expiration Date:

01/31/2023.

After grant award and annually thereafter, OCC expects to collect information from states about the programs in their PDG B-5 mixed delivery system, including information about the following:

administrative governance structure;

definitions of key terms, such as vulnerable or underserved;

funding levels and sources;

children and families served by all mixed delivery system programs;

coordination and collaboration across mixed delivery system programs;

engagement with external partners to support mixed delivery system coordination and collaboration;

coordinated eligibility or application processes across mixed delivery system programs;

activities to maximize family and parental choice, support transitions, and improve mixed delivery system program quality;

integrated data systems, data governance, and data capacities (e.g., to produce unduplicated counts of children and families served across the mixed delivery system);

ongoing program performance evaluation findings; and progress toward overall PDG B-5 goals and objectives.

This annual information collection is intended to complement information provided in the Quarterly Performance Progress Reports and Financial Reports. See Section VI.3. Reporting for more information.

In addition, recipients will be expected to submit a final report no later than 6 months after the end of the grant period. This report shall include, but is not limited to, the following:

A. How, and the extent to which, the grant funds were used for activities to achieve the PDG B-5 goals and objectives described in the state's application, and must include any additional activities for which the funds were used in order to meet the purposes of the initial and renewal grant requirements;

B. How, and the extent to which, the grant funds were used for activities that aligned with the state's needs assessment and were outlined in the state's strategic plan or program performance evaluation plan;

C. Key findings from the state's program performance evaluation;

D. Improvements in data systems and capacities over the grant period;

E. Any new partnerships established among Head Start programs, Early Head Start programs, child care providers, home visiting programs, preschool programs, early intervention, early childhood special education, WIC, SNAP, state and local governments, Indian tribes and…