Preschool Development Grant Birth through Five (PDG B-5) Planning Grant

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.  The Office of Child Care within the Administration for Children and Families at the Department of Health and Human Services jointly with the Department of Education is soliciting applications from eligible states to carry out the activities of the Preschool Development Grant Birth through Five (PDG B-5) Planning Grant (formerly known as the PDG B-5 Initial Grant). This grant seeks to empower state governments to better leverage federal, state, and local early care and education investments. States are not to create another early childhood program, but rather help coordinate early childhood programs and services that already exist in the state according to the identified needs of the state. This Planning Grant seeks to assist states in helping low-income and disadvantaged children enter kindergarten prepared and ready to succeed in school and to help improve the transitions from the early care and education setting to elementary school. The PDG B-5 Planning Grant aims to assist states in the coordination of their existing early childhood services and funding streams for the purpose of improving services to children birth through age five in a mixed delivery system.