In 2016, Georgia was selected as one of five states to receive the Parents and Children Thriving Together (PACTT) grant from the National Governors Association and the Center for Law and Social Policy. With this grant, Georgia is advancing a two-generation (two-gen) approach to support children from low-income families with high quality early learning, while supporting their families in attaining the education, training, and, ultimately, the jobs that lead to economic self-sufficiency.
In 2018, Two-Gen Innovation Grants (TGIG) were awarded to Clarke, Bibb, and Clayton Counties, all areas that had existing partnerships involving community agencies focused on two-gen strategies. During the implementation year, each county was tasked with expanding those relationships, as well as exploring the option to include other agencies that would assist with the growth of the two-gen work within their community.
To sustain this work, Bright from the Start: Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning (DECAL), in partnership with the University System of Georgia, and the Technical College System of Georgia, is making available two new funding opportunities to pilot or expand community strategies that connect the early learning, postsecondary, and workforce systems at the local level. With the TGIG, communities will be asked to implement two-gen strategies that will impact both children's ability to access high-quality early learning and their parents' ability to obtain jobs providing family-supporting wages that foster greater economic security.
The two grant opportunities are a Capacity Building Grant and an Implementation Funding Grant:
Capacity Building Grant Opportunity Capacity Building Grants will give recipients the opportunity to explore two-gen policy change and programming in their area. This grant will be offered to communities with minimal or no organized collaborative efforts focused on two-gen strategies and projects.
- Projects must help connect parents of young children in early learning system supports, such as CAPS, Quality Rated Subsidy Grants, Head Start, or Georgia's Pre-K, with workforce training or postsecondary education and/or help connect parents currently in workforce training or postsecondary education with early learning supports, such as CAPS, Quality Rated Subsidy Grants, Head Start, or Georgia's Pre-K, for their children.
- Grant funds must be used to accomplish these three objectives, at a minimum:
- Develop a collaborative body or team to include the following implementation partners, with at least one from each of these categories:
- Adult-Serving: technical college, university system institution, and workforce development board
- Child-Serving: child care program with a significant number of children receiving CAPS, a Quality Rated Subsidy Grant, or an Infants Matter grant, and/or a Head Start or Early Head Start Grant
- Conduct a comprehensive community needs assessment to identify and evaluate the existing programs providing children from low-income families with high-quality early learning, while supporting their parents in attaining the education, training, and, ultimately, the jobs that will lead to economic self sufficiency.
- Incorporate parent perspectives from community leaders with children; student-parent interns, part-time employees, or contractors; or parent focus groups.
Implementation Funding Grant Opportunity Implementation Funding Grants will be awarded to communities with evidence of an established group of partners collaborating to advance two-gen policies and programming.
- Projects must help connect parents of young children in early learning system supports, such as CAPS, Quality Rated Subsidy Grants, Head Start, or Georgia's Pre-K, with workforce training or postsecondary education and/or help connect parents currently in workforce training or postsecondary education with early learning supports, such as CAPS, Quality Rated Subsidy Grants, Head Start, or Georgia's Pre-K, for their children.
- Projects must include at least one child and one parent, or one family outcome measure from Ascend's 2Gen Outcomes Bank http://outcomes.ascend.aspeninstitute.org/.
- Projects must include at least one implementation partner, defined as an entity performing work related to the grant objectives and/or receiving funding from the grant, from each of these categories:
- Adult-Serving: technical college, university system institution, and/or workforce development board
- Child-Serving: child care program with a significant number of children receiving CAPS, a Quality Rated Subsidy Grant, or an Infants Matter grant, and/or a Head Start or Early Head Start Grant
None is available.