OPRE makes grants to support research in areas such as child care, Head Start and Early Head Start, child welfare, home visiting, welfare and employment, strengthening families and healthy marriage, family and youth services, and interoperability and data sharing. We do not make grants to individuals or for direct services.
If you are interested in one of the funding opportunities listed below, click on the Learn More link to go to the grants.gov site. To receive updates on these forecasted opportunities, register at grants.gov and subscribe to the funding opportunity.
OPRE is currently forecasting 9 funding opportunities for 2024:
- Access to Infant and Toddler Care and Education: Research and Evaluation Grants
- Behavioral Interventions Scholars
- Center for Home-Based Child Care Research
- Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) Lead Agency Data and Research Capacity Grants
- Child Care Policy Research Partnership
- Child Development Research Fellowship Program
- Early Care and Education Research Scholars: Child Care Dissertation Grants
- Early Care and Education Research Scholars: Head Start Dissertation Grants
- Family Self-Sufficiency Demonstration Development Continuation Awards
- Secondary Analysis of Child Care and Early Education Data
- Secondary Analysis of Head Start Data
- TANF Data Collaborative (TDC) Equity Analysis Awards
Access to Infant and Toddler Care and Education: Research and Evaluation Grants
OPRE plans to solicit applications for Access to Infant and Toddler Care and Education: Research and Evaluation Grants (HHS-2024-ACF-OPRE-YE-1212) . This grant opportunity will provide funding to address key research and evaluation questions related to care and education access for infants and toddlers at the national, state, or local level. Specifically, these awards will support either: descriptive research studies to document current access, shifts in access over time, or the characteristics of specific policies, practices, or other efforts that may be affecting access for infants and toddlers; or evaluations to explore the implementation or effects of specific policies, practices, or other efforts that may be affecting access for infants and toddlers.
Behavioral Interventions Scholars
OPRE anticipates soliciting applications for Behavioral Interventions Scholars awards to support dissertation research by advanced graduate students who are using approaches grounded in behavioral science or behavioral economics to examine research questions of relevance to social services programs and policies. These awards are meant to build capacity in the research field to apply a behavioral science or behavioral economics lens to issues facing families with low incomes in the United States, and to foster faculty mentorship of high-quality doctoral students. Applicants are required to demonstrate how their research is grounded in behavioral economics/behavioral science and the applicability of their research to practices or policies serving children, adults, and families with low incomes, especially those that seek to improve their well-being.
Center for Home-based Child Care Research
This cooperative agreement would establish a Center for Home-based Child Care Research (HHS-2024-ACF-OPRE-YE-0089) to support locally defined research on home-based child care in the United States. The purpose of the Center is to provide leadership, build research capacity in the field, and offer support in the development and facilitation of local research in states, Territories, and Tribes to improve understanding of home-based child care availability. Home-based child care (HBCC) providers, or individuals and small business owners paid to provide child care in private residences or homes, are an essential segment of the child care landscape. They constitute the largest portion of the child care and early education (CCEE) workforce and serve the vast majority of children birth through school-age who are in regular nonparental care. It is critical for the Administration for Children and Families and for local communities to learn more about HBCC providers, in order to inform federal efforts and local initiatives to increase access to safe and high-quality child care for low-income, working families. This research center would promote sound research examining home-based child care (HBCC) and the factors that support or suppress the availability of HBCC in communities throughout the country. In addition, this Center would advance the field’s understanding of HBCC engagement in public programs and quality improvement efforts. The Center’s activities would build research and evaluation capacity in the field and support research in state, Territories and Tribes to inform local initiatives designed to sustain and strengthen HBCC. This Center would ideally bring together a team that has experience investigating home-based child care, evaluating Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) program and policies, and assessing the needs and experiences of families with low-incomes, in tribal communities and of historically minoritized populations. This Center would be equipped to strengthen the ability of local research partnerships to conduct model research projects that effectively address questions concerning HBCC in local contexts, while contributing to broader understanding in the field about HBCC.
Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) Lead Agency Data and Research Capacity Grants
OPRE plans to solicit applications for Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) Lead Agency Data and Research Capacity Grants (HHS-2024-ACF-OPRE-YE-0080) . This grant opportunity will provide funding to support partnerships between CCDF Lead Agencies and researchers to develop and improve state, territory, and Tribal data systems and build the capacity of CCDF Lead Agencies to collect, analyze, and use data to guide child care policy decisions and program improvement efforts. These 18-month projects will fund a planning phase to develop a research plan to address questions of interest to the CCDF Lead Agency, including a plan for identifying, linking, and using state, territory, and Tribal data to inform child care policy decisions. These planning grants may be followed by a second competition (Phase II), under a separate Notice of Funding Opportunity, to support execution of the research plans to develop and improve state, territory, and Tribal data systems.
Child Care Policy Research Partnership
OPRE plans to solicit applications for Child Care Policy Research Partnerships (CCPRP). These five-year cooperative agreements will support partnerships between Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) Lead Agencies in states, territories, or tribes and research partner organizations with demonstrated research capacity to develop rigorous investigations of child care subsidy policies and practices. Sponsored projects will inform local and federal understanding about the efficacy of child care subsidy policies and practices to increase low-income families’ access to quality child care.
Child Development Research Fellowship Program
ACF expects to fund a cooperative agreement to sponsor the Child Development Research Fellowship, which will allow child development professionals from the academic community the opportunity to actively participate in policy-relevant research activities associated with ACF programs. The goal of the fellowship program is to expose researchers to policy environments, particularly at the federal level, whereby they gain skills and expertise for policy-relevant research. The program is intended to stimulate the fellow's knowledge of child development research and evaluation, particularly regarding services for low income children and families, and to inform their process of developing long-term, policy-relevant research and evaluation agendas.
Early Care and Education Research Scholars: Child Care Dissertation Grants
OPRE plans to solicit applications for Early Care and Education Research Scholars: Child Care Dissertation Grants. Funds support dissertation research by advanced graduate students working on child care policy issues in partnership with a Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) agency or administrator and with faculty mentors. These grants focus on building capacity in the research field by: addressing questions relevant to child care policy decision-making and program administration, fostering mentoring relationships between faculty members and doctoral students.
Early Care and Education Research Scholars: Head Start Dissertation Grants
OPRE plans to solicit applications for Early Care and Education Research Scholars: Head Start Dissertation Grants. Funds support dissertation research by advanced graduate students working in partnership with Head Start programs and with faculty mentors. These grants focus on building capacity in the research field by:(1) addressing questions relevant to early childhood programs that serve children and families with low-income,(2) supporting applied experience with collaboration with participating program partners, and(3) fostering mentoring relationships between faculty members and doctoral students.
Family Self-Sufficiency Demonstration Development Continuation Awards
OPRE anticipates soliciting applications for the Family Self-Sufficiency Demonstration Development (FSSDD) Continuation Awards. FSSDD award recipients who participated in the initial awards (HHS-2021-ACF-OPRE-PE-1944) are eligible to apply for the cooperative agreements that are intended to build the capacity of human services organizations to strengthen and evaluate coordinated, client-centered approaches to improving family self-sufficiency. During this continuation, award recipients will move towards formalizing, implementing, and testing the interventions developed during the initial award to determine if the interventions can be implemented with fidelity and demonstrate promise as evidenced through positive participant outcomes.
Secondary Analyses of Child Care and Early Education Data
OPRE plans to solicit applications for awards to support researchers conducting secondary analyses of data to address key questions of relevance to the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF). CCDF is the primary federal funding source for child care subsidies and aims to help eligible low-income working families access child care and to improve the quality of child care for all children. CCDF also aims to improve implementation of high-quality child care programs to 1) promote children’s healthy development and learning and 2) support the education, training, and well-being of child care workers through efforts that include child care licensing, quality rating and improvement systems (QRIS) and professional development opportunities. Analyzing existing data sets may provide researchers an efficient and cost-effective method for answering critical research questions of relevance to CCDF. Findings from these awards are intended to inform policy, program administration, and future research.
Secondary Analyses of Head Start Data
OPRE intends to solicit applications for Secondary Analyses of Head Start Data awards. These awards aim to support researchers conducting secondary analyses of data of relevance to Head Start (HS) programs and policies. This includes research of relevance to HS programs serving families with children 3 to 5 years old, Early HS programs serving pregnant women and families with infants and toddlers, American Indian Alaska Native (AI/AN) HS programs serving families in tribal communities, and Migrant and Seasonal HS programs serving families engaged in migrant and seasonal farm work.
TANF Data Collaborative (TDC) Equity Analysis Awards
OPRE anticipates soliciting applications for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Data Collaborative Equity Analysis Awards. Awards are intended to support state, territory, or county TANF agencies in conducting equity-focused analyses of their TANF and other human services data. Equity-focused analyses may examine the fair, just, and impartial treatment of individuals under the management and practices of the TANF program. The TANF Data Collaborative Equity Analysis Awards are intended to support participating TANF agencies to: Build data analytic capacity among TANF agency staff through intensive training and technical assistance; Promote social equity analysis using TANF data to support program improvement and inform policy making; Encourage innovative approaches to leveraging one or more existing TANF data sources; and Demonstrate the potential for improved TANF data quality, use, and sharing to benefit agency programming and individual and family outcomes.