Indiana’s Office of Early Childhood and Out-of-School Learning recently awarded early education capacity-building grants totaling more than $870,000 to 14 applicants representing 19 prekindergarten programs in 13 Indiana counties. All recipients are located in counties whose residents are eligible for the On My Way Pre-K program for the first time in the 2019/2020 school year. On My Way Pre-K was expanded statewide as a result of House Enrolled Act 1628, signed by Governor Eric J. Holcomb in May of 2019.
On My Way Pre-K is Indiana’s state-funded prekindergarten program for low-income children. The program, which is free to families who qualify, is currently enrolling eligible 4-year-olds for the 2019/2020 school year. Families may check eligibility and apply here.
The capacity-building grants are awarded to early learning providers and county coalitions to serve more prekindergarten children and increase the quality of early education opportunities provided in Indiana. Locally, Max’s Playhouse in Culver received $54,646.38
Capacity-building grants may be used for the following purposes:
- Training and professional development of teaching staff;
- Classroom materials that demonstrate increased outcomes for children or increased instructional practices for educators;
- Evidence-based curriculum or instructional materials including professional development for teaching staff to utilize the curriculum;
- Family engagement activities or materials and/or marketing and communication materials; and
- Other relevant needs to help expand capacity and/or improve quality programming to help programs reach Paths to QUALITY™ level 3 or 4, which is the requirement for a provider to be eligible to be an On My Way Pre-K provider.
Grant awards are for one year with the option to request a no-cost extension if additional capacity-building activities remain that have not been completed after one year. Nonprofit applicants interested in receiving funding for items not allowable had the opportunity to apply for a limited pool of separate grant funding from Early Learning Indiana.
All applicants were required to secure matching funds—between 5 and 50% of total budget—from local businesses or other stakeholders who will benefit from the community improvement associated with these capacity-building grants.
