Facts In Action

On December 15^th, Congress passed the FY 2001 budget, which includes historic increases in funding for child care, Head Start, and after-school programs, as well as creates a new federal early childhood program.

• The Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) was increased by $817 million to a total of $2 billion. A little over $300 million of the $2 billion was set aside for: improving child care quality and access, child care research, school-age care, and resource and referral programs.

• Head Start received its biggest increase in history - $933 million, bringing it to a total of slightly over $6 billion.

• The appropriations bill also authorized a new program, the Early Learning Opportunities Act, originally proposed by Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) and Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA), allocating $20 million for demonstration grants. The Act allows states to provide funds to councils in local communities to improve early childhood supports to children and families. Councils will be able to choose to fund new infant and toddler initiatives, home visiting parent education programs, initiatives to bolster the quality of child care, efforts to expand the hours of part-day Head Start or prekindergarten programs, or other family strengthening activities. The initiative was inspired by North Carolina's Smart Start program and similar state-based efforts.
  

For more information:
about the federal appropriations bill, contact the Children's Defense Fund at (202) 628-8787, or by email at cdfinfo@childrensdefense.org.

For more information:
on North Carolina's Smart Start, contact North Carolina Partnership for Children, 1100 Wake Forest Road, Suite 300, Raleigh, NC, 27604, call (919) 821-7999, or look on-line at www.smartstart-nc.org.

Facts in Action, February 2001