Preschool Development Grant Birth Through Five

Overview

Due to limited budgets and capacity, many states struggle to support important activities like data collection, research, infrastructure development, and other quality initiatives that ensure child care and early learning programs operate effectively. 

The Preschool Development Grant Birth through Five (PDG B-5) program helps address these challenges by offering a unique source of funding that enables states to strengthen, align, and expand their early learning systems.

This critical funding helps families with young children access a wider range of affordable, high-quality child care options 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 B-5 is funded at $315 million for FY2026.