Preschool Development Grant Birth-Five (PDG B-5)

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The new version of the Preschool Development Grant program, PDG B-5 for the first time allows states to include infants and toddlers. PDG B-5 offers states an opportunity to strengthen coordination of existing early childhood care and education (ECCE) services and funding streams to provide equal access to more children birth through age five. We know from science that brains are built from the bottom up. The early experiences of young children will shape the architecture of their brains in enduring ways and build the foundation – whether strong or weak – for their future development. For this reason, ZERO TO THREE strongly urges states to include an intentional focus on infants and toddlers in their PDG B-5 strategic plans.

The following resources could be helpful to states as they conduct their needs assessments and develop strategic plans:

• Infants and Toddlers in the Policy Picture: A Self-Assessment Toolkit For States – this toolkit is intended to help state policy leaders and advocates assess the current status of services for infants, toddlers, and their families, and to set priorities for improving policies, funding, and systems. It is organized by the goal areas of good health, strong families, positive early learning experiences, and collaboration and systems. The toolkit includes a family survey (available in English and Spanish).

• State of Babies Yearbook 2019 – this yearbook compares national and state-by-state data on the well-being of America’s babies to help policymakers and advocates advance policies and budgets that put babies and families first. It includes state profiles, a national landscape, a communications toolkit, a companion paper describing states’ promising approaches, and a State Profile Navigator to support use of state profiles to make policy decisions.

• The Preschool Development Grant Birth-Five (PDG B-5) Offers A New Opportunity to Support Babies and Toddlers: A Tool to Intentionally Include Infants and Toddlers in PDG B-5 – this document explains how the PDG B-5 can be used to address ECCE system challenges impacting infants and toddlers and offers recommendations for specific strategies that states can include in PDG B-5 grants to improve outcomes for babies.

• Including Infants and Toddlers in PDG B-5 Resource List – this annotated resource list provides links to briefs, tools, and videos that go into detail about how the strategies outlined in the PDG B-5 tool can be implemented. It is organized into the same five areas.

• Home Visiting and Preschool Development Grants Birth-Five: Strategies and Examples – this document describes some of the strategies states can employ to include home visiting in PDG B-5. It also offers a few examples of how states are implementing them.

• Making the Case for Babies – Why Infants and Toddlers Should Be A Critical Focus of PDG B-5 - this PowerPoint presentation discusses the science of brain development, what happens when babies don’t get a strong start in life, and how the ECCE system can promote babies’ healthy development.