Early Care and Education Grants

PROFESSIONALIZING THE ECE FIELD

National Association of State Boards of Education (NASBE)
$100,000 over one year to support the continued implementation of strategic plans towards using the influence and authority of State Boards of Education to effect policy changes intended to strengthen the early care and education (ECE) workforce, including increasing compensation. NASBE will provide technical assistance, provide resources, and develop content to further enhance and expand the ECE State Cohort Network and the National ECE Networks.

National League of Cities Institute, Inc. (NCLI)
$100,000 over one year to support municipal leaders in the continued implementation of their strategic plans towards achieving their identified ECE workforce policy goals, including increasing ECE financing and compensation. NLCI will host two national roundtables, convene quarterly sessions on priority topics, provide technical assistance, and develop content for the 10-city cohort.

National Association of Elementary School Principals Foundation
$200,000 over one year to support the planning and execution of a virtual multi-day convening and half-day follow-up sessions, to develop briefs and resources, to equip school leaders with the knowledge, tools, and strategies to be successful in leading Prekindergarten – 3rd grade continuums in their schools. A year-round virtual community will also be created to sustain conversation and share lessons learned amongst a network of school leaders across the country.

Center for Community Change
$400,000 over two years to support grassroots community organizing of community-based organizations to increase ECE compensation through the provision of technical assistance and on-the-ground work with early educators, particularly educators of color. The grant will also enhance innovative digital organizing tactics designed to mobilize and directly impact a base of early educators and parents who will also drive policy change.

Education Writers Association
$240,000 over two years to develop multimedia content, including meetings and webinars, and provide one-on-one coaching to equip journalists with the knowledge and skills needed to produce high-quality coverage of ECE and, particularly of the workforce, to better inform the public and policymakers.

ENHANCING THE QUALITY OF PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE

Erikson Institute
$200,000 over two years to examine the challenges and opportunities present in the implementation of state initiatives to include Family Child Care within state prekindergarten programs and provide insights and lessons learned using a rapid-response approach to answer policymaker questions, as well as facilitate peer learning among local, state, and federal policymakers.

Brazelton Touchpoints Project, Inc.
$573,000 over two years, on behalf of the Wiikwedong Early Child Development Collaborative, to establish a research-practice partnership examining strategies to improve home and family visits that build sustainable ECE knowledge and practices rooted in Ojibwe culture and systems.

Young Scholars Program

Portland State University Foundation
$225,000 over three years to examine both the development and implementation of teaching practices in an online ECE teacher preparation program based on Indigenous knowledge to better prepare and retain native teachers in online learning environments in Oregon.

Arizona State University Foundation for a New American University
$225,000 over two years to study the influence of early childhood mental health consultants in improving the quality of early educator practice in implementing cultural approaches in their interactions with children from racially, culturally, and linguistically diverse backgrounds.

New York Academy of Medicine
$225,000 over three years to examine national and local characteristics of home-based providers unaffiliated with licensing, regulatory or registration systems, and the children for whom they care, as well as elevate the perspectives of such providers regarding improving policies to better support their work.

Brown University
$225,000 over three years to investigate racial and ethnic disparities that exist in kindergarten – 3rd grade teachers’ discipline referrals and administrators’ disciplinary sanction decisions. Mechanisms within teacher and administrator practice that drive these disparities will be identified, as well as school contextual factors that exacerbate or ameliorate them.

Promising Scholar Awards

The University of Toledo Foundation
$15,000 over one year to further develop a research proposal to examine the preparation and competency of ECE teachers in identifying young children with developmental delays or disabilities through early intervention referral systems in Ohio and Michigan.

The Board of Trustees of the University of Alabama
$15,000 over one year to further develop a research proposal to study the characteristics and experiences of home-based childcare providers caring for a relative’s children in Alabama, as well as to identify ways to effectively engage providers in quality improvement efforts.

Georgia State University Research Foundation
$15,000 over one year to further develop a research proposal to explore ECE teachers’ perceptions and mathematics teaching practices that foster a culturally responsive classroom and promote mathematical reasoning and equitable mathematics discourse in ECE classrooms.

Georgia State University Research Foundation
$15,000 over one year to further design a research proposal to develop, implement, and assess a training program focused on building the capacity of the ECE workforce to educate and care for infants and young children with special healthcare needs in classrooms.