Tribal Early Childhood Facilities Combined Application Guide

The Head Start Act and the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act allow American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) Head Start grant recipients and Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) Tribal Lead Agencies to use federal funds to construct or improve early childhood facilities. These facilities often serve children who are assisted through both funding streams, but application submission and review processes are unique to each respective funding stream. In an effort to reduce burden and improve access to high-quality early care and education for AIAN children and their families, ACF has developed a Tribal Early Childhood Facilities Combined Application Guide (below). This guide is for Tribal CCDF and AIAN Head Start grant recipients that would like to braid funds and jointly apply for the use of CCDF and Head Start funds to construct or renovate early childhood facilities.  The Program Instruction below outlines the required steps and procedures for submitting a combined facilities application and answers some basic questions about projects that would qualify to use the combined facilities application.