Early Ed Watch

Today, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) posted the remaining 97 funding opportunities for community-based organizations, city agencies and school districts that wish to compete with current Head Start providers for Head Start funds. The new grant-making process, known as recompetition, aims to move funds away from Head Start and Early Head Start providers that were found to be deficient during recent government audits and redirect grants to new providers that appear to meet higher standards.

An initial group of 100 funding opportunities were posted in mid-April, bringing the total number of potential new grants to 197. Funding opportunities posted today include areas such as Pittsburgh, PA, New Haven, CT, and Montgomery County, MD.  

Applicants have 90 days to apply. View a full list of the funding opportunities by doing a basic search on www.grants.gov and entering CFDA# 93.600. HHS provides more information here.

Check back with Early Ed Watch in the coming months for deeper looks at how the recompetition process is playing out across the country and whether it’s fulfilling its mission to weed out weak Head Start providers.

For background information, take a look at previous posts, including:

• Coverage of the  first round of funding opportunity announcements in April;
• An in-depth explanation of the recompetition system; and
• Useful context in our coverage of an event at the Brookings Institution last August that featured leading researchers talking about Head Start reforms.