Deadline: 20-Jul-21
The Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation (OPRE), within the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Administration for Children and Families (ACF), intends to award cooperative agreements under the Coordinated Evaluations of Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) Policies and Initiatives:
Planning Grants (Phase I) to support partnerships between Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) Lead Agencies and researchers to develop rigorous, policy-relevant evaluations testing child care subsidy policies designed to increase low-income families’ access to high quality child care.
Goals
The overall goal of the Coordinated Evaluations of CCDF Policies and Initiatives Planning Grants is to provide CCDF lead agencies and research partners the opportunity to plan for a rigorous, policy-relevant evaluation of child care subsidy policies and practices.
Specifically, in Phase I (the current FOA), grantees will develop a research plan to evaluate how subsidy policies and practices related to payment rates (including reimbursement rates to providers and co-payment amounts paid by subsidy-receiving households) support low-income families’ access to quality child care.
The specific goals and expectations of the grant program include the following:
- Goal 1. To develop research plans for rigorous evaluations examining the implementation and outcomes of subsidy payment rate and co-payment policies and practices in the state, territory, or tribe. Projects funded through this funding opportunity will develop research plans for evaluations examining the implementation and outcomes of subsidy payment rate and co-payment policies and practices in the state, territory, tribe, or locality.
- Goal 2. To develop research partnerships that support collaboration among child care researchers and CCDF lead agencies which build the capacity of lead agencies to plan and conduct rigorous research that can inform federal, state, territory, tribal, and/or local subsidy policy. Research sponsored by CCDF funding is intended to provide valuable information that can help inform child care decision-makers in crafting policies and initiatives to support positive outcomes for families and children.
- Goal 3. To foster active communication and collaboration among grantees in order to strengthen individual projects and to build knowledge about child care subsidy policies. Grantees will be expected to participate in a consortium of grantees, supported by an ACFdesignated evaluation coordination team.
- Goal 4. To increase the dissemination of child care research at the national, state, territory, tribal, and/or local levels. Grantees must create a project dissemination plan describing project dissemination goals, target audiences, and products/activities (e.g., written briefs, specific venues for presentation, briefings for key stakeholders, website, direct emails). The overall project dissemination plan should serve to guide the creation and execution of dissemination activities and products over the course of the project.
Funding Information
- Estimated Total Funding: $2,250,000
- Expected Number of Awards: 15
- Award Ceiling: $150,000 Per Project Period
- Award Floor: $75,000 Per Project Period
- Average Projected Award Amount: $150,000 Per Budget Period
- Anticipated Project Start Date: 09/30/2021
- Length of Project Period: 18-month project period and budget period
Eligibility Criteria
- Eligibility under this FOA is defined under section 658O(a)(5) of the CCDBG Act). The statutory authority for this funding opportunity does not limit eligible entities to receive this funding.
- Applicants are required to submit written evidence that research is a primary organizational activity of the research partner as part of the application submission.
- Applicants are required to provide either:
- a letter showing approval of the application from, or
- a letter of proof that the applicant is
- the CCDF lead agency that is responsible for setting relevant subsidy policies (i.e., lead agency in states, territories, tribes, or localities). Applicants who fail to submit either forms of the required documentation will be disqualified from review and reward.
- 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 this part, the Department will not, in the selection of recipients, discriminate against an organization on the basis of the organization’s religious character, affiliation, or exercise.
- Applications from individuals (including sole proprietorships) and foreign entities are not eligible and will be disqualified from competitive review and from funding under this announcement.
For more information, visit https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=328865