Bright & Early DuPage Grant -New Collaboration Development

Overview

Bright & Early DuPage Grant

Bright & Early DuPage (B&ED), an initiative of DuPage Foundation, is a unique program designed to leverage area resources to ensure that all DuPage children from birth to age five receive the comprehensive support critical in preparing them for success in kindergarten and beyond.

Community by community, B&ED is engaging and uniting local organizations and individuals to build awareness for and facilitate access to early childhood education and support services for DuPage children and their families. Each year, the B&ED initiative provides grant funding to local community organizations to help establish, build and maintain early childhood collaboratives. B&ED also serves as a voice for early learning and child-friendly policies at all levels of government.

Although there are many ways to support young children and their families, the Foundation is most interested in supporting the development of new early childhood collaborations or those already in existence which are focusing on building local capacity for early childhood resources in the community, and family outreach and engagement in order to connect families to those resources. This includes identifying needs/resources to develop and implement a plan which expands high-quality early childhood education capacity and provides family support/education.

New Collaboration Development

Through this opportunity, communities can apply for seed funding to help establish a new early childhood collaboration and begin with initiatives focused on addressing early childhood needs. A community can be defined as a municipality, school district, or any other collection of one or more of each, which are in proximity and working together.

During the first year, a collaboration will be expected to partner with its local school district(s), at least three or more community organizations, childcare providers, and engage with local families who represent the population it is serving. There are also many agencies providing county-wide early childhood programs and services. It is suggested that these agencies are also included in the planning to foster cross-sector cooperation.

Every community is unique, and each collaboration will have its own set of needs and interests as it relates to early childhood. While newly formed collaborations have much to do to establish ongoing operations and develop relationships, it is expected they will prioritize building local early childhood resources and capacity, and family outreach and engagement.

Established early childhood collaborations may apply for funding in subsequent years.

Eligibility

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