FY 24 ECBG Priority List of Preschool Deserts
The Priority List identifies the district regions, counties, and ZIP codes that are "preschool deserts.” A desert is an area of the state where there is an insufficient number of publicly funded slots/seats to serve at least 80% of 3- and 4-year-old children from low-income families. The purpose of the Priority List is to assist potential applicants in determining if they are located in a
district region, county, or ZIP code that is identified as an early childhood desert.
What requests in the application benefit from the information in the Priority List?
Requests 1, 2, and 5, in particular, could benefit from the inclusion of information in the Priority List. In specific, these requests for information are:
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Request 1: "Describe the area to be served indicated by high levels of poverty that has an insufficient number of other programs and services to fully serve all children and families who potentially could be at risk." The applicant may wish to identify the district region(s), ZIP code(s), and or county(ies) that constitute the area served by the applicant. Information on how the program participants does or will “feed” into extant programs – both community-based organizations and districts – is helpful in making a strong case of how the applicant will serve eligible children.
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Request 2: "Indicate the number of slots needed to serve at least 80% of eligible children in the community and describe how the proposed program and activities align to the budget and will sufficiently meet the identified needs of the population to be served." The applicant may wish to use local information (i.e., data that the applicant possesses to make a case for need) and information in the Priority List (i.e., how information in the Priority List supports the local information).
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Request 5: "Describe how the program will target those children and families most in need of services who reside in in early childhood deserts and that are in need of additional slots to serve at least 80% eligible children." The applicant could build off and use information to the responses to Requests 1 and 2 to describe how the program will target eligible families in a district region, county, or/and ZIP code.
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