The Child Care Policy Research Partnerships: Evaluating Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) Lead Agencies’ Consumer Education Strategies funding opportunity supports collaborative research between state, territorial, or tribal CCDF Lead Agencies and research institutions. The primary objective is to rigorously evaluate the effectiveness of consumer education strategies designed to help parents make informed choices about their children’s early care and education. These strategies aim to improve accessibility, equity, and transparency in child care decision-making.

The funding will support up to six cooperative agreements, with a total program funding of 2.7 million dollars. Awards will range between 150,000 and 450,000 dollars per year, and projects will have a duration of five years, subject to annual appropriations. The cooperative agreements allow for a one-year planning period, if necessary. Applications are due by May 26, 2025, and awards are anticipated to be announced by August 15, 2025, with a project start date of September 30, 2025.

Eligible applicants include state, county, city, and tribal governments; public and private institutions of higher education; nonprofits; for-profit organizations; Native American tribal organizations; and small businesses. Individuals, sole proprietorships, and foreign entities are not eligible. The program emphasizes active collaboration between CCDF Lead Agencies and research partners, and applicants may submit multiple proposals as partners, although no organization will receive more than one award.

Applicants are required to conduct an innovative evaluation, including an impact study and an implementation study. Evaluations must use experimental methods, such as randomized control trials, or rigorous quasi-experimental designs to ensure strong causal inference. Projects must actively engage stakeholders, such as child care resource and referral agencies, parents, and others with lived experience, to ensure the research is rigorous, relevant, and equitable. Research teams will also collaborate with federal staff and participate in a consortium to share lessons learned, align research methods, and develop collective expertise. Disseminating findings to local, state, and national audiences will be a critical expectation.

The program encourages participation in OPRE’s Child Care and Early Education Policy Research Consortium (CCEEPRC) meetings throughout the project period. In addition, awardees must foster connections across research, policy, and practice communities to ensure findings are actionable and widely adopted. Applicants can consult resources such as the OPRE Roadmap for Collaborative and Effective Evaluation in Tribal Communities and other partnership-building tools to support their proposals.

Applications must outline detailed plans for the evaluation design, stakeholder engagement, and dissemination strategies. Proposals will be evaluated on the strength of their methodology, research team expertise, and capacity to produce meaningful results that inform CCDF policy. Funding decisions will also consider the ability to actively engage stakeholders and translate findings into actionable insights. All proposals must be submitted electronically by the deadline, and interested applicants are encouraged to contact federal staff, such as Alysia Blandon, for further guidance.