The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) announces the availability of approximately $2,148,993 to be competitively awarded for the purpose of expanding access to high-quality, comprehensive services to low-income infants and toddlers and their families through Early Head Start-Child Care (EHS-CC) Partnerships, or through the expansion of Early Head Start services.
Donor Name: Administration for Children and Families (ACF)
State: California
County: Los Angeles County (CA)
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline (mm/dd/yyyy): 02/02/2022
Size of the Grant: $2,148,993
Grant Duration: 60 Months
Details:
ACF, within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), will consider applications for Early Head Start-Child Care (EHS-CC) Partnerships, non-partnership Early Head Start (EHS) Expansion, or applications that include a combination of both.
ACF intends to fund applications that demonstrate an organization’s commitment and capacity to operate an EHS program that raises the quality of early care and education in the community and helps children start school ready to succeed.
The Head Start and EHS programs provide grants to public and private non-profit and for-profit agencies to provide comprehensive child development services to predominately economically disadvantaged children and families. Head Start’s primary purpose is to prepare children to be ready for school and ensure their healthy development. In fiscal year (FY) 1995, the EHS program was established to serve pregnant women and children from birth to 3 years of age in recognition of the mounting evidence that the earliest years matter a great deal to children’s growth and development.
Head Start and EHS programs must provide directly or through referral, early, continuous, intensive, and comprehensive child development and family support services that will enhance the physical, social, emotional, and intellectual development of participating children in the key domains of physical development and health; social and emotional development; approaches to learning, language, and literacy; and cognition and general knowledge. Programs support parent engagement in their roles as their children’s teachers and advocates, and help parents move toward self-sufficiency.
Head Start and EHS programs emphasize family engagement because of the critical role that parents play in supporting their children’s healthy development and school success. Effective programs engage parents in their children’s development and learning. Programs also emphasize the significant involvement of parents in the administration of local Head Start and EHS programs. These leadership opportunities are designed to strengthen skills that parents can apply to improve their family’s economic well-being and to become more effective advocates for their children.
Funding Information
- Estimated Total Funding: $2,148,993
- Award Ceiling: $2,148,993 Per Budget Period
- Award Floor: $1,000,000 Per Budget Period
- Anticipated Project Start Date: 07/01/2022
- Length of Project Periods: 60-month project period with five 12-month budget periods.
Eligible Participants (all recipients)
- EHS programs enroll pregnant women and infants and toddlers from birth to age 3. Additionally, EHS-CC Partnership recipients may serve children in family child care settings from birth to 48 months. Families must have incomes below the poverty line, be eligible for public assistance, be homeless, or be in foster care to be eligible for services. Children are selected for enrollment based on age, income eligibility, and relative level of need with regard to other criteria that are identified within each community (45 CFR § 1302.12(b)(c)).
- Head Start regulations permit up to 10 percent of enrolled participants to be from families that do not meet these low-income criteria.
- Additionally, programs must ensure that at least 10 percent of the total number of children enrolled by the Head Start or EHS agency and delegates are children with disabilities unless a waiver is granted.
- Child care subsidy eligibility requirements under CCDF are established by states, territories, and tribes and vary within a broad set of parameters established by federal rules. Each CCDF lead agency sets income eligibility limits up to 85 percent of state median income. Families must be working or participating in education/training, and children must be under age 13. In CCDF, more than 60 percent of infants and toddlers served are in families with incomes below the federal poverty threshold and, therefore, are eligible for EHS also.
- Applicants may elect to propose program models that promote socioeconomic diversity within classrooms. Federal Head Start funds must be used to serve eligible children as described in this section. Additional children who are not income-eligible for EHS can be served as long as their participation is supported through other funding sources such as child care subsidies, public school pre-K allocations, parent-paid tuition, or other sources. Such program designs may be beneficial in promoting socioeconomic diversity within classrooms. All costs must be allocated to appropriate funding sources in compliance with federal requirements.
Eligible Applicants
- Eligible applicants are any public or private non-profit agencies, including community-based and faith-based organizations, or for-profit agencies pursuant to section 645A(d) of the Head Start Act, 42 U.S.C. 9840a(d).
- Eligible entities include the following: (1) entities operating Head Start, (2) entities operating an Indian Head Start or Migrant and Seasonal Head Start program, and (3) other public entities and non-profit or for-profit private entities, including community-based and faith-based organizations, capable of providing child and family services that meet the standard for participation in programs under the Head Start Act.
- Please note, “(1) entities operating Head Start” programs includes entities operating Head Start, EHS, and/or EHS-CC Partnership programs.
- Applications from individuals (including sole proprietorships) and foreign entities are not eligible and will be disqualified from competitive review and from funding under this funding opportunity.
- Faith-based and community organizations that meet the eligibility requirements are eligible to receive awards under this funding opportunity. Faith-based organizations may apply for this award on the same basis as any other organization, as set forth at and, subject to the protections and requirements of 45 CFR Part 87 and 42 U.S.C. § 2000bb et seq., ACF will not, in the selection of recipients, discriminate against an organization on the basis of the organization’s religious character, affiliation, or exercise.
For more information, visit Grants.gov.
