Opportunity Spotlight: The Early Learning Challenge Fund

The primary thrust of the Early Learning Challenge Fund is to provide grants to states to help them build comprehensive, high quality early learning systems for children birth to age 5 across all early care and learning settings. Although originally included in the President’s budget proposal this year, the Early Learning Challenge Fund is now part of a stand-alone measure, H.R. 3221.The Early Learning Challenge Fund helps states to reform early learning standards, establish quality rating and improvement systems, develop systems for early screening, support parents, and build components of a quality early care and education system.
The Fund would establish two competitive grants:

• Quality Pathways Grants – five year, renewable grants for states that have made significant progress in establishing systems that improve the quality of early learning environments.
• Development Grants – three year, non-renewable planning grants for states that have demonstrated they have some of the elements of an early learning system. These states would be eligible to apply for the Quality Pathways Grants after demonstrating significant progress with the Development grants.