• State governments

• Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized)

Proposed research projects must be led by State/Territory/Tribal Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) Lead Agencies. CCDF Lead Agencies may partner with other organizations (e.g., public or private institutions of higher education, for profit or nonprofit research organizations), especially if the eligible agency does not have the in-house capacity to conduct research. Each CCDF Lead Agency may submit no more than one application. For a list of CCDF State/Territory grantees, please visit: http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/occ/resource/ccdf-grantee-state-and-territory-contacts. For a list of CCDF Tribal grantees by state, please visit: http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/occ/resource/ccdf-tribal-grantees-listed-by-state.

The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) plans to solicit applications for Child Care Administrative Data Analysis Grants. These cooperative agreements would fund research and evaluation activities that primarily involve the analysis of child care administrative data. Projects would be led by CCDF Lead Agencies in states/territories/tribes and conducted in partnership with researchers.

Successful applicants will pursue research questions of national and state relevance and develop their methodology and research questions in partnership with local and state child care researchers and other stakeholders. Successful project proposals must involve the analysis of child care administrative data (e.g., ACF 801 data, ACF 700 data, licensing data, data collected as part of administering a subsidy program or quality improvement initiative). Projects may involve linking administrative data to other existing data sources (e.g., CCDF Policies Database, state survey data, data from other early care and education programs). Funds from this grant may not be used for data collection. Proposals for collaborative projects exploring common questions across states would be permitted and encouraged.

Results from this research are expected to add to our knowledge about the efficacy of child care subsidy policies and quality improvement initiatives in supporting employment and self-sufficiency outcomes for parents, increasing access by low-income families to high quality programs, and promoting positive learning and school readiness outcomes for children. Projects are also expected to inform the field at large regarding administrative data analysis. As such, grantees will be expected to participate in a network of child care administrative data analysis grantees, meeting annually and communicating regularly to share lessons learned, identify opportunities for collaborative analyses, and develop collective expertise and resources to be shared with the field at large.

Since 2000, Congress has appropriated about $10 million per year of the discretionary Child Care and Development Fund to be used for child care research and evaluation.  For more information on CCDF, please visit: http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/occ/resource/ccdf-law.

Funding is subject to availability of funds and the best interests of the federal government.