National Early Care and Education Workforce Center

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.

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.