PDG B-5 Renewal Grants are being used by states across a wide range of content areas in the early childhood care and education system, and in a variety of ways. The federal funding provides a systems framework and seeks to offer flexibility within that framework. The federal funding came with overall guidance focused on coordinating the programs and services within the early childhood care and education system. It aimed to help young children enter kindergarten prepared and ready to succeed by targeting support to populations the states deem priorities based on their assessments of need, particularly their new understanding of the impact of COVID on families and communities. The guidance placed significant emphasis on the early childhood care and education workforce and doing what it would take to attract, train, and retain the workforce needed
to maintain high-quality and supportive environments that promote child development and can meet families’ unique logistical, linguistic, cultural, and financial needs. Within that broad framework, however, states had enormous latitude. This series of briefs will make clear that states are charting their own course, with many strategies being used to develop and improve their early childhood systems.