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Policy Priority
Child Care and Early Learning Programs

Preschool Development Grant Birth Through Five

Overview

The Preschool Development Grant Birth through Five (PDG B-5) program plays an essential role in ensuring state child care and early learning systems are as effective and efficient as possible.

States use federal PDG B-5 grants to make child care and early learning programs better, building much-needed infrastructure and aligning multiple systems and agencies.

This critical funding helps states provide millions of children and working families with access to high-quality child care and early learning that can help set them on a strong path for success.

These competitive federal grants: 

  • Help states improve quality and safety across child care programs.
  • Improve state collaboration across multiple child care and early learning programs, systems, and agencies to identify what’s working, what’s not, and what to do about it.
  • Assist states in collecting data, so they can make programs work more effectively and efficiently.

Current Funding Level: PDG is funded at $315 million for FY2023, an increase of $25 million above FY2022.

Top
Resources

Resource

Blog Series: How States are Using PDG B-5 Grants

August 23, 2023

The BUILD Initiative, ZERO TO THREE, and Start Early, recently released a new set of briefs highlighting the strategies states are using to improve child care in their Preschool Development …

Resource

The First Five Things To Know About: Preschool Development Grants Birth through Five (PDG B-5)

July 20, 2023

Today, 26.8 million people in the workforce – or one out of every six – rely on child care so they can work or go to school. Child care is …

Resource

PDG B-5: The Program Overview

March 31, 2023

The Preschool Development Grant Birth through Five (PDG B-5) program is a $315 million competitive federal grant designed to improve states’ early childhood systems by building upon existing federal, state …

Latest
Updates

News

STATEMENT: FFYF Executive Director Sarah Rittling on Senate Markup of FY24 Funding Levels for Child Care and Early Learning Programs

July 27, 2023

WASHINGTON – Today, the Senate Committee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies held a bipartisan mark up on proposed funding levels for child care and early …

News

STATEMENT: First Five Years Fund Executive Director Sarah Rittling on Proposed FY24 Funding Levels for Child Care and Early Learning Programs

July 14, 2023

“Federal funding provides the foundation for child care and early learning programs. Now is the time to bring greater support for working families and children, not reverse course. We urge …

What You Can Do
about PDG B-5


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