Today, Governor Kim Reynolds announced her commitment of $5M to expand 19 child care and preschool program partnerships. The Continuum of Care grant program garnered overwhelming interest with more than 120 applications submitted.
The awards reaffirm the governor’s commitment to further strengthen Iowa’s child care system. By encouraging partnerships between child care providers and preschools, the program helps ensure full days of care for 4-year-olds and strengthens school-aged readiness. These awards will expand the number of children served through supportive staffing, hours of operation, and transportation options for child care and preschool programs.
"Iowa has a strong and diverse statewide preschool system with many options for Iowa families. We’ve also had tremendous success improving child care access, growing the workforce, and increasing wages for child care workers,” said Gov. Reynolds. "Still, Iowa’s working parents need more flexibility to provide their children with full-day care plus early learning, which has been a gap in our system for too long. The Continuum of Care grant program provides a strategic solution by incentivizing child care providers and preschool programs to work together to better serve Iowa families. There’s a clear need for this program — as evidenced by the overwhelming number of applicants — and I encourage state legislators to explore ways to permanently support these partnerships.”
A second round of Continuum of Care grants for child care and preschool expansions will be announced this fall for the 2026/2027 school year.
Continuum of Care Grants
To address gaps in full-day care, Iowa HHS released a Request for Proposal for the Early Childhood Continuum of Care grants. Grants of up to $300,000 over three years will support partnerships between Statewide Voluntary Preschool Program (SWVPP) sites and licensed child care centers to offer seamless, full-day care for 4-year-olds. The NOIA has been posted to the website as a shared link to the PDF file on the IDPH Funding Opportunities website here: Notice of Intent to Award – Health and Human Services.
This additional investment will further support a strong early care and education full-day learning environment, supporting working families with young children to be school ready.
Through this investment, The Continuum of Care grant program serves to bolsters support to both the child care workforce and Iowa’s working families.
More information on this grant is available here.