New Grants Will Help States in Planning Expanded Infant & Toddler Care Opportunities

Yesterday the Pritzker Children’s Initiative (PCI) awarded 11 states grants to plan a robust and actionable policy agenda with the goal of expanding access to high-quality care and learning for infants and toddlers.

States that received the $100,000 Prenatal-to-Age-Three State Planning Grants include: Arkansas, District of Columbia, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Nebraska, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Texas, Washington, and Wisconsin. In addition, PCI will continue to support planning work already under way in New Mexico, New Jersey, and South Carolina.

These grants will help states establish coalitions of state and community partners in order to develop a policy agenda and action plan focused on expanding access to high-quality programs to support healthy development among children from zero to age three. After completing the planning process, states will also be eligible to apply for continued funding from PCI for implementation grants.  

The Pritzker Children’s Initiative, as part of the J.B. and M.K. Pritzker Family Foundation, has a goal to expand high-quality services nationally to at least one million more low-income families with infants and toddlers by 2023 so that children reaching Kindergarten are ready to learn. They see these grants as an important lever in achieving this goal. The First Five Years Fund is also a grantee of PCI.

Research continues to show that investing in early learning and care provides tremendous returns both for children and society. Children who experience quality child care starting at birth had long-lasting positive impacts that led to higher IQ and achievement test scores, fewer grade retentions and placements in special education, higher levels of college graduation and job-holding, and healthier outcomes as adults. Empowering states to strengthen and expand high-quality care opportunities  will provide additional children with a strong foundation of school readiness and a productive life.

You can learn more about the grants and the work of the Pritzker Children’s Initiative here.