Last month, we presented a webinar, Responding to Federal Priorities, to provide practical ways to operationalize federal guidance and identify strategies to think proactively about program activities. The webinar focused on the primary priorities as identified in Secretary Kennedy’s May testimony about the President’s HHS FY 2026 Budget, as well as two recent IMs – ACF-OHS-IM-25-03 Promoting Healthy Eating and Nutrition for Head Start Children and Families (March 2025) and ACF-OHS-IM-25-04 Expanding Educational Freedom and Opportunities for Families in Head Start Programs (April 2025). Those priorities included increasing parental choice; improving health, education, and employment outcomes; increasing program delivery efficiency; and promoting parental engagement. Thank you to all who joined!
There are many ways that programs can position themselves to respond to federal priorities. And some things your program is likely already doing! However, your response might also require new approaches, documentation, or collaboration.
1. Program Goals and Objectives. Generally, consider how your program goals and measurable objectives align to the federal priorities. Just as you received guidance that some language should be removed because it did not align to federal priorities, it seems likely that language that shows alignment would be useful. It will also help to ensure the priorities are captured in your short- and long-term program planning.
2. Data to Support Parent Choice. Review your Community Assessment (CA)/CA Annual Update to ensure you are gathering data on child care availability to include faith-based programs and charter schools. If you are in an area where there are few options, this will help to provide evidence that parent choice is limited (e.g., you may be doing all you can do by partnering with the LEA). If you are in an area with multiple options, this will help to inform your partnership/collaboration opportunities and conversations with families.
3. State and Local Partnerships to Support Parent Choice. How are you collaborating at the state and local levels? What evidence do you have of that collaboration? If you have previously thought about having a school readiness committee, for example, and inviting LEAs and other local programs and partners but never did this, now would be a good time. If you have partnerships but they are not documented in an MOU, now is the time to document (this is explicitly required in the IM). When identifying partners, be sure to include faith-based programs, charter schools, private schools, and others.
4. Family Engagement and Transition Planning. Consider how you can integrate opportunities for parent choice into transition planning and conversations. What are the considerations for transitions from Early Head Start to Head Start Preschool or local preschool, and out of Head Start Preschool? Remember, parents don’t have to make a different choice but programs are expected to discuss the options with them. This is also another reason why it’s important to ensure you have the most up-to-date data on programs in your community and partnerships to facilitate referral relationships.
5. Layered Funding. In the past, many thought that implementing a layered funding approach was only required if for Early Head Start – Child Care Partnership (EHS-CCP) programs. The IM makes it clear that this is now everyone’s responsibility; an excerpt from the IM is provided below. If you used to use subsidy but stopped in the past and never re-started, or if you don’t regularly seek out small local or private grants, now is a great time to think about developing strategies for doing so. And if you’re already doing these activities, be sure to clearly document the resources used and purposes of the layered funding.
Layered funding can be used to expand full-day, full-year services and comprehensive services that best serve families’ needs or to free up resources for other purposes. Coordinating funding streams also allows programs to think more creatively about ways to partner with other programs and services, including partnering with faith-based organizations that offer early childhood opportunities that may be most desired by families in the community.
6. Family Surveys. Family surveys are a fantastic source of data. If your program isn’t already implementing a survey, we recommend beginning this practice. Ensure your family survey includes questions that can support your efforts to meet federal priorities. For example, you can gather input about program design by asking if the program schedule and location meets families’ needs. And if there was one thing to change, what might it be, longer days, more days, transportation? Be sure you’re asking questions in a way that is quantifiable and supports data-driven statements (e.g., 80% of families said the program schedule meets their needs).
We understand this might feel like a lot. Consider starting with a few actionable items and building from there. If your program needs assistance navigating the federal priorities and how to respond, we would be glad to help. And if you think you may need help, but aren’t exactly sure how – we can discuss options with you. Please reach out and we would be glad to discuss your program’s needs.
Thank you.
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