Open Competitive Grants

Through this competitive Grant Application, EEC may award grants to one or more vendor(s) who will provide professional development opportunities and services  which support adults to gain knowledge and skills which they can apply to practice through completion of multiple opportunities.  These professional development opportunities must be aligned with the MA Quality Rating and Improvement System.  The target audience of this intervention is programs and the workforce that provide the early education and out of school time three core areas: educator and provider pathways, coaching and mentoring in support of matriculation or competency development, and competency development.

As part of a broader comprehensive statewide system of mental health supports for children and families, EEC in collaboration with the Department of Mental Health (DMH), aims to provide a statewide system of mental health consultation services. Through this open competitive grant, EEC may award grants to either new or existing vendors able to provide mental health consultation services that meet the needs of the programs, providers, educators, children, families and communities throughout the Commonwealth.

EEC is pleased to announce the FY2013 Community Support Grant Application Request for Response (RFR).

This is a competitive grant to provide support to local communities to plan for and enhance their integrated and coordinated Birth to Grade Three alignment.

Through this application process EEC is seeking grantees to engage in creating a plan to engage collaborative community wide activities (detailed in the Required Services section) to bring greater alignment to the Birth to Grade Three population in their communities.  Bidders must demonstrate that they have a current infrastructure that incorporates the priorities outlined
in the RFR.  

Responses to this Grant Application (RFR) are due to EEC by 4:00 PM on Friday, November 16, 2012. Please see the Grant Application (RFR) for a timeline of additional dates relevant to responding to this Grant Application (RFR).
Eligible Applicants

This is a competitive grant to provide support to local communities in developing an integrated and coordinated birth to age 8 community planning structure.

In July 2012, EEC received an increase of $500,000 for the FY13 Head Start State Supplemental Grant.  These additional funds will be used to provide additional enhancement of services to full day and/or part day services to Head Start (HS) and Early Head Start (EHS) programs for children and families in the Commonwealth. The purpose of this additional grant in FY13 is to enhance services to Massachusetts children on EEC’s wait list or on those of existing Head Start programs who are eligible for Head Start based on federal guidelines.

December 14, 2012:  The FY13 UPK Open Competitive Grant Awards have been posted on the EEC Website and on Comm-PASS.

EEC is pleased to announce the FY2013 Universal Pre-Kindergarten (UPK) Grant Application Request for Response (RFR).  The purpose of this Open Competitive UPK Grant is to:

• Promote the early learning guidelines to support school readiness and positive outcomes for children participating in UPK classrooms and homes
• Support and enhance the quality of services for children in UPK classrooms and family child care homes,  especially for high needs children and/or children living in underperforming school districts;
• Maximize parent choice by ensuring participation from all program types within a mixed public and private service delivery system;
• Use child evidence based formative assessment systems/tools to ensure that programs are effectively measuring children’s progress across all developmental domains and using this information to inform practice though individualized teaching; and
• Inform the longer-term implementation of a program of universally accessible, high-quality early childhood education.

EEC is pleased to announce the FY2013 Coordinated Family and Community Engagement (CFCE) Service Area Grant Application Request for Response (RFR).  Through this competitive Grant Application, EEC is seeking to award grants to up to four existing Coordinated Family and Community Engagement Grantees, each of which will provide all families in one of the following service areas with access to locally available comprehensive services and supports that strengthen families and promote optimal child development.  Potential grantees must agree to provide services to all communities within the service area. 

EEC is pleased to announce the FY2013 Community Support Grant Application Request for Response (RFR).

The purpose of the Community Support Grant is to implement two core functions:

1. Community Strategic Planning:  One-time grants to selected Coordinated Family and Community Engagement (CFCE) grantees serving in Gateway, District Level 4 Schools and Home Visiting Communities to support community birth through age 8 (“B-8”) three year strategic plans, anchored in local data. 

   a. Plans will be based on child and family needs and the quality and effectiveness of B-8 aligned systems linking local schools, local providers and families through grants to communities.

2. Birth to 8 Assessment, Screening, and Curriculum Support and Alignment:  One-time grants to the following entities:  Gateway, District Level 4 Schools and Home Visiting Communities. The grant application should be submitted in partnership with non-profit communities including public schools, public school districts and/or charter schools serving children pre-kindergarten to third grade, to support assessment, screening, and curriculum support and alignment. 

EEC is pleased to announce the FY2013 Universal Pre-Kindergarten (UPK) Grant Application Request for Response (RFR).  The purpose of UPK is to support and enhance the quality of services for children in UPK classrooms, especially for low-income children and/or children living in underperforming school districts, as well as promote school readiness and positive outcomes for children participating in UPK classrooms and homes. 

United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley (UWMBMV) and the Department of Early Education and Care (EEC) have partnered to support and strengthen the capacity of early education and OST program leaders to identify, prioritize, and implement improvements that move them forward in the state’s Quality Rating Improvement System (QRIS).  This grant application’s purpose is to provide QRIS Program Quality Improvement Grants to all eligible programs/educators in the mixed delivery system during spring 2012 to make quality program improvements, in pursuit of upward progress on the levels defined in the QRIS system.

The purpose of the Assessment and Measurement Tools RFP is to award funding to one or more Institutes of Higher Education (IHEs) to build an infrastructure within the Commonwealth for training and consultation, and materials and supports for programs in the mixed delivery system to develop skills in evidence based child assessment and screening, as well as the observational tools utilized in the QRIS to measure program quality.