National Early Care and Education Workforce Center
Agency: Administration for Children and Families - OCC
Assistance Listings
- 93.434 -- Every Student Succeeds Act/Preschool Development Grants
- 93.575 -- Child Care and Development Block Grant
- 93.600 -- Head Start
Archived opportunityLast Updated: May 13, 2026
View version history on Grants.gov
Description
The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) solicits applications for a National Early Care and Education Workforce Center (the Center). The purpose of the cooperative agreement is to fund a research and technical assistance center that will work to increase recruitment and retainment of a diverse, qualified, and effective workforce across all Early Care and Education (ECE) settings and programs through the provision of technical assistance (TA) at state and local levels and a program of rigorous research that builds the knowledge base and informs TA efforts. The Center will specifically...
focus on establishing and enhancing career advancement systems and strategies for ECE professionals to pursue credentials and degrees and identifying and encouraging sustainable strategies to increase compensation, provide an adequate compensation, and improve workplace policies (wages, benefits, wellness) in alignment with career advancement.
While this funding opportunity is being released through the Office of Child Care (OCC), this opportunity is a collaborative effort between several offices (OCC, Office of Head Start (OHS), Office of Early Childhood Development (ECD), and ACF’s Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE)). ACF is interested in applicants with demonstrated knowledge of and expertise and experience in conducting rigorous research and providing effective technical assistance on supporting and strengthening the ECE workforce across mixed delivery settings (including family child care homes, child care centers, Head Start programs, and schools).
SAM.gov System Alert - Entity Validation Delays:
Due to high demand, SAM.gov is experiencing a considerable delay in processing entity legal business name and address validation tickets. As needed, please start the process early to avoid interruptions in application submissions. You can find SAM resources related to this process here - https://www.fsd.gov/gsafsd_sp?id=kb_article_view&sysparm_article=KB0058422&sys_kb_id=7bb8810ddba05990060d5425f3961912&spa=1.
Grants.gov Downtime - Grants.gov Going Offline:
The Grants.gov system is being migrated to the cloud and will be unavailable to users for an extended period to allow for a successful transition. The Grants.gov Production System will be offline during the following period:
Production System will go Offline Friday September 23, 2022 at 12:01 AM ET.
Production System will go Online Thursday September 29, 2022 at 11:59 PM ET.
If you are interested in this funding opportunity, you are strongly encouraged to download it and all associated attachments from Grants.gov at the time of posting so that they will be available to you during this period. For more information on what to expect, please refer to the following URL at https://grantsgovprod.wordpress.com/2022/08/08/what-to-expect-during-the-grants-gov-cloud-migration-and-extended-downtime-for-september-2022/ for details.
Eligibility
Eligible applicants
Nonprofit
- Nonprofits non-higher education without 501(c)(3)
- Nonprofits non-higher education with 501(c)(3)
- Other Native American tribal organizations
Government
- City or township governments
- County governments
- Federally recognized Native American tribal governments
- Special district governments
- State governments
Business
- For-profit organizations other than small businesses
- Small businesses
Education
- Private institutions of higher education
- Public and state institutions of higher education
- Independent school districts
Additional information
Eligible applicants may apply on their own or as the lead applicant for a consortium. A consortium is a project carried out by a lead applicant and one or more other organizations that are separate legal entities. Under a consortium agreement, the lead applicant must perform a substantive role in the conduct of the planned project or program activity and will not merely serve as a conduit of funds to another party or parties. The relationship between the recipient and the collaborating organizations is considered a subaward relationship. Applications from individuals (including sole proprietorships) and foreign entities are not eligible and will be disqualified from competitive review and funding under this funding opportunity. Faith-based and community organizations that meet the eligibility requirements are eligible to receive awards under this funding opportunity. 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 45 CFR Part 87 and 42 U.S.C. 2000bb et seq., ACF will not, in the selection of recipients, discriminate against an organization on the basis of the organization's religious character, affiliation, or exercise.
Grantor contact information
Description
Kimberly Burgess Simms
EarlyChildhoodDevelopment@acf.hhs.gov
EarlyChildhoodDevelopment@acf.hhs.gov
Documents
| File name | Description | Last updated |
|---|---|---|
| Foa_Content_of_HHS-2022-ACF-OCC-TA-0002_Publication_Version_PDF.pdf | Foa_Content_of_HHS-2022-ACF-OCC-TA-0002 Publication Version PDF.pdf | Sep 13, 2022 02:44 PM UTC |
Link to additional information
--
Archived: November 12, 2022
Award
$6,000,000
Program Funding
1
Expected awards
$6,000,000
Award Minimum
$6,000,000
Award Maximum
Funding opportunity number:
HHS-2022-ACF-OCC-TA-0002
Cost sharing or matching requirement:
No
Funding instrument type:
Cooperative agreement
Opportunity Category:
Discretionary
Opportunity Category Explanation:
--
Category of Funding Activity:
Income security and social services
Category Explanation:
--
History
Version:
1
Posted date:
September 12, 2022
Archive date:
November 12, 2022
