The Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) is soliciting applications for the Building and Sustaining Quality in Early Care and Education (BSQECE) grant to provide ongoing, comprehensive support and implement a robust set of program areas that will directly and indirectly support families, the early care and education workforce and child care operators’ instructional and business capacity and operations, to promote and support high-quality early care and education in DC.
Donor Name: Office of the State Superintendent of Education
State: District of Columbia
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 06/20/2023
Size of the Grant: Up to $3.7 million
Grant Duration: 5 years
Details:
The Building and Sustaining Quality in Early Care and Education (BSQECE) grant is an opportunity to further leverage investments to positively impact children and families through:
- supporting quality early care and education experiences;
- connecting families to the care and education opportunities they want and need;
- supporting child care facilities to ensure continued operation of thriving child care businesses that meet the diverse needs of the District’s children and families.); and
- providing high-quality professional development opportunities for the early care and education workforce.
The BSQECE grant will support the implementation of four program areas to address the District’s needs:
- Capital Quality: Capital Quality seeks to provide meaningful information about program quality; align supports for providers to access research-based quality standards and target areas of improvement, through collaborative partnerships between families, child development providers, OSSE and other public and private child and family serving agencies
- DC CCC: According to Child Care Aware of America, “A child care resource and referral (CCR&R) organization serves as a resource hub for families, child care professionals and communities. CCR&Rs increase access to high-quality, affordable child care by providing many different services depending on where an individual lives.
- DC SSBA: Advance thriving and sustainable child care businesses by providing participating child care businesses.
- Professional Development: Improve and expand the professional development opportunities for early childhood educators, early childhood program leaders and administrators, trainers who support the early childhood workforce and individuals who provide supports in early care and education.
OSSE is soliciting applications from organizations, institutions and agencies interested in providing these program services. The goal of the BSQECE grant is to support capacity building in DC’s early care and education system to expand and enhance quality care and education services for young children and their families. The grant will support OSSE in meeting Start Early strategic priorities, as well as efforts laid out in the DC CCDF state plan.
Funding Information
- The total funding available for the first year of this five-year grant for providing comprehensive support to the District’s families’, early learning providers and workforce through the BSQECE grant is up to $3.7 million.
- All grants under this RFA will be five-year awards, beginning on Oct. 1, 2023 and ending on Sept. 30, 2028, contingent upon availability of funds. Each budget period will be one year, with the first period beginning Oct. 1, 2023 and ending Sept. 30, 2024.
Eligibility Criteria
OSSE will accept applications from eligible applicants, including not-for-profit, for-profit and faith-based organizations. Applicants must have experience in financial management, quality assurance and ongoing monitoring of program deliverables, as well as previous experience providing supports related to the identified program areas including within the District’s mixed delivery early care and education system.
For more information, visit OSSE.
