H.R. 2845 — PROSPECT Act

This section authorizes the Secretary to award four types of grants from amounts made available under section 103 to eligible entities: (1) planning grants under section 122; (2) access grants under section 123 to provide free high-quality child care for as many as 500,000 infants and toddlers with a community college or minority-serving institution student parent; (3) impact grants under section 124 to expand child care supply and quality through training, mentorship, technical support, and expansion funding for providers; and (4) pipeline grants under section 125 to launch or expand early childhood educator preparation programs and form partnerships to strengthen the infant and toddler care workforce pipeline. This section requires the Secretary, in administering the title, to consult with the Secretary of Health and Human Services on all grants and with the Small Business Administration Administrator on impact grants.

This section requires an eligible entity seeking a planning, access, impact, or pipeline grant under subtitle B for infant and toddler child care to submit an application containing (1) landscape reviews of child care needs and workforce in its service area, emphasizing community college or minority-serving institution student parents in communities of color and low-income parents; (2) a vision for leveraging grants to enhance access and quality; (3) a description of efforts to advance child development, family engagement, and culturally/linguistically responsive pedagogy; and (4) assurances on annual reporting, child care staff wages comparable to those of elementary educators with similar credentials/experience and at minimum a living wage, and convening an infant and toddler child care committee. It directs the Secretary to award such grants competitively, prioritizing (1) eligible institutions as defined in section 312(b) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (i.e., higher education institutions with high needy student enrollment and low average educational/general expenditures per full-time equivalent undergraduate, including bachelor's-degree granting institutions, junior/community colleges, and certain insular colleges) for at least 80% of funds; (2) at least one grant per state; and (3) applications from entities enrolling high percentages of Pell-eligible students with children under age 3, located in infant/toddler child care deserts, or with compelling plans for grant activities. The section further provides special consideration and potential additional funding exceeding standard limits for access grant applications offering child care during nontraditional hours, for dual language learners or children needing trauma-informed/disability supports, or for children age 3 and older; and for pipeline grant applications developing culturally/linguistically responsive early childhood education courses.

This section establishes parameters for grants under subtitle B to community colleges and minority-serving institutions, including (1) maximum amounts of $20 million for an individual institution and $220 million for a consortium; (2) durations of four years, except one year for planning grants under section 122; (3) a limit of one planning grant per eligible entity under section 122 but allowance for multiple impact, access, and pipeline grants under sections 123, 124, and 125, including overlapping grants; (4) annual grant competitions by the Secretary; and (5) a rule of construction clarifying that the grants do not limit programs under other federal laws, including the Higher Education Act of 1965, Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, or Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

This section authorizes the Secretary to award four types of grants to eligible entities from amounts made available under section 103: (1) planning grants under section 122 to assess infant and toddler child care needs of current and prospective community college or minority-serving institution student parents and surrounding communities and to develop detailed proposals; (2) access grants under section 123 to provide free high-quality child care for up to 500,000 children under age 3 of such student parents; (3) impact grants under section 124 to expand child care supply and quality through training, mentorship, technical support, and expansion funding for new and existing providers in the eligible entities' service areas; and (4) pipeline grants under section 125 to launch and expand early childhood educator preparation programs and to form partnerships with regional institutions to strengthen the infant and toddler child care workforce pipeline.

This section establishes planning grants for eligible entities to support infant and toddler child care for student parents at community colleges or minority-serving institutions. Grantees must use funds to (1) establish a local infant and toddler child care committee composed of specified members (e.g., student parents, faculty, local educational agency representatives, child care professionals); (2) conduct a needs assessment of current and prospective student parents, the child care workforce, and the service area, including needs for nontraditional-hour care, care for children under age 3, care for infants and toddlers with disabilities, non-English-speaking households, and child care deserts; (3) conduct research, outreach, and planning to expand access to free infant and toddler child care, including potential delivery agreements with providers; and (4) develop a detailed proposal focused on needs of parents of children under age 3, potentially including an application for an impact, access, or pipeline grant under subsequent sections. Grantees must submit a report to the Secretary within 30 days after the grant period ends containing the needs assessment results, detailed proposal, and, if applicable, an application for another grant.

This section establishes a grant program to expand access to free infant and toddler child care for student parents at community colleges or minority-serving institutions. Eligible entities may use grants for one or more of the following: (1) paying child care costs at on-campus centers, state-licensed off-campus centers, or licensed/registered home-based providers; (2) operating or contracting for on-campus infant and toddler child care centers; (3) coordinating with local child care resource and referral agencies; (4) expanding resources at existing on-campus centers through additional space, equipment, or staff for children under age 3; (5) lengthening hours or operating during breaks (including summer); (6) establishing drop-in or flex care capacity; or (7) renovating campus facilities to meet Americans with Disabilities Act standards and high-quality benchmarks (i.e., state quality rating systems, Early Head Start standards, or accreditation by the National Association for the Education of Young Children or equivalent). On-campus centers supported by these grants must (1) be state-licensed and meet specified high-quality standards or accreditation; (2) prioritize enrollment for student parents' children, first for low-income families, with at least 85% of student parents eligible for Federal Pell Grants under section 401 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (waivable by the Secretary); (3) serve children of full- and part-time student parents; (4) provide free infant and toddler care (children under age 3 as of the academic year's first day) to student parents' children, charge sliding-scale fees to faculty, staff, and community members, and reserve slots for drop-in care per Secretary regulations; (5) maintain continuity of care during enrollment breaks or transfers from community college to four-year minority-serving institutions (with sliding-scale fees during non-enrollment); and (6) comply with Head Start suspension and expulsion standards.

This section establishes impact grants to eligible entities for expanding the supply and quality of child care, particularly infant and toddler care, through nine specified activities (1) contracting with child care resource and referral organizations for technical assistance, training, and staffed family child care networks; (2) establishing or partnering with provider networks (e.g., Early Head Start); (3) developing training content on business practices; (4) compensating trainers; (5) awarding microenterprise grants to licensed professionals, centers, and home-based providers for new or expanded infant/toddler programs; (6) developing career pathways for low-income and underrepresented individuals; (7) prioritizing communities of color and low-income areas; and (8) delivering professional development in non-English languages. It requires that professional development funded under the grants be accessible to both unlicensed and licensed providers, with no more than 30% of grant funds allocated to such activities. It further directs grantees to consult annually with infant/toddler child care committees and state Child Care and Development Block Grant lead agencies and to submit annual reports to the Secretary detailing provider training participation (including by language fluency and credentials earned), new networks formed, child care spots created for children under age 3 (disaggregated by infant/toddler care deserts, communities of color, and recipient demographics for microenterprise grants), mentorship participants (disaggregated and cross-tabulated by gender, race, and ethnicity in anonymized form), and technical support recipients.

This section establishes a grant program authorizing the Secretary to award grants to eligible entities for activities to strengthen the infant and toddler child care workforce pipeline, particularly in child care deserts, including (1) establishing associate degree programs or stackable credentials focused on infants and toddlers; (2) hiring faculty to teach infant-toddler courses; (3) developing coordination plans between educator preparation programs and on-campus child care centers; (4) creating partnerships with four-year institutions; (5) upgrading on-campus child care centers into lab schools; (6) awarding microgrants to students; (7) developing culturally responsive teaching courses; and (8) partnering with high schools for career and technical education programs. Grantees must consult annually with infant and toddler child care committees, submit annual reports to the Secretary detailing student enrollment and demographics, microgrant usage, retention and completion rates, dual-enrollment data, and partnerships—with specified data cross-tabulated by gender, race or ethnicity, and disability status in a manner consistent with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA, 20 U.S.C. 1232g).

This section requires the Secretary to evaluate annually the effectiveness of grants under chapter 1 using specified criteria for (1) access grants under section 123—number of community college or minority-serving institution student parents accessing licensed or registered infant and toddler child care (disaggregated by age, gender, race or ethnicity, family income, disability status, marital status, and student status); usage patterns of on-campus child care; semester-to-semester and fall-to-fall persistence rates compared to non-users; and degree/certificate completion rates compared to non-users (all disaggregated by specified demographics); (2) impact grants under section 124—number of child care professional development attendees; number of community colleges or minority-serving institutions joining or establishing child care provider networks; number of state-licensed child care spots created for children under age 3 in infant/toddler child care deserts and communities of color via microenterprise grants; and number of non-English-fluent child care providers receiving professional development; and (3) pipeline grants under section 125—number of new or expanded early childhood educator preparation programs; number of students enrolled (disaggregated by degree/credential type and demographics including age, gender, race or ethnicity, second language ability, family income, disability status, and enrollment status); microgrant funding amounts allocated (disaggregated by usage category and demographics); persistence, retention, and completion rates of microgrant recipients compared to non-recipients; number of new high school partnerships; number of dual-enrolled high school students; and number completing dual-enrollment degrees/credentials (disaggregated by type).

This section directs the Secretary to submit an annual report to Congress on the grant program under this title, including (1) the results from the most recent evaluation under section 126 and (2) information regarding the progress made by the grants based on the most recent reports submitted under sections 122(b), 123(c), 124(c), and 125(b).

This section prohibits discrimination on the basis of actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, sex (including sexual orientation, gender identity, pregnancy, childbirth, medical conditions related to pregnancy or childbirth, or sex stereotypes), or disability in any program or activity funded in whole or in part under this title or with grants, contracts, or child care certificates similar to those under the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 (CCDBGA). It requires enforcement of these protections in the same manner as title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000d et seq.). This section states that it does not alter the religious nondiscrimination provisions of CCDBGA section 658N (42 U.S.C. 9858l).