Missouri has received a more than $33 million federal grant to improve its early childhood education system, Gov. Mike Parson’s office announced Monday.
The state received a $33.5 million “Preschool Development Grant Birth to Five,” or PDG B-5, that “provides funding over three years to implement an interagency effort to provide regional access to coordinated early childhood services to better meet a family’s needs, enhance and streamline training opportunities for early learning professionals, and improve systems to better inform decision-making about early learning,” according to a news release from the governor’s office.
Missouri previously received a one-year, $6.5 million PDG B-5 in January. That federal funding essentially laid the groundwork for the latest grant, by being used to develop a needs assessment of available services for children from birth to age 5.
“The (earlier) grant also provided resources to build a strategic plan to develop measurable early childhood indicators that ultimately lead to children who are safe, healthy and ready to learn,” Parson’s office added Monday.
“This ($33.5 million) renewal grant builds upon the work done in 2019 and provides the funds to address the areas of early learning that need to be improved in Missouri, especially for the state’s most vulnerable children,” the news release said.
“Low-income families have the greatest challenge in finding affordable, quality child care, especially in rural areas,” Department of Social Services’ Acting Director Jennifer Tidball said in the news release. “This grant enables those children to have safe care, an opportunity to learn, and access to essential services so they get the best possible start in life.”
Parsons said in the news release, “The most important and impactful time of a child’s development is the early years of his or her life. With this funding, we now have the opportunity to leverage existing infrastructure and data systems to strengthen our early childhood offerings, which is crucial to the development of a strong Missouri workforce.”
The Elementary and Secondary Education Department will lead the state’s effort and will work closely with other state agencies and organizations throughout the three-year process, including the Department of Health and Senior Services, the Department of Social Services, the Department of Mental Health, and the Missouri Head Start State Collaboration Office.
Missouri was among about half of 45 other applicant states and territories that received PDG B-5 funding, according to the news release.