The Fair Start for Kids Act, passed by the Washington State Legislature in 2021, directs DCYF to distribute funds to support inclusive and culturally and linguistically specific early learning and early childhood and parent support programs across the state. The funds are distributed through the Early Childhood Equity Grant program.
The Early Childhood Equity Grant helps support culturally responsive programming so that children have access to diverse care that meets their needs.
Who can apply for the Early Childhood Equity Grant?
During the application period, eligibility is open to:
- Licensed, certified, or certified for payment only child care providers with an open license in good standing.
- License-exempt Family, Friend, and Neighbor (FFN) providers serving children receiving state subsidies.
- Licensed ECEAP sites
- ECEAP contractors
- Play and Learn Group Host Organizations recognized by Child Care Aware of Washington (CCA of WA) and currently receiving funding and/or direct programming support from CCA of WA to actively provide direct and virtual education and materials to parents and FFN caregivers. This is the result of a contractual agreement between CCA of WA and the State of Washington and applies to Play and Learn Groups.
You may receive an Early Childhood Equity Grant once every two years.
If you are a licensed, certified, or certified for payment only provider with more than one location, you must submit a separate application for each licensed site. You cannot submit one application for multiple sites. Grants are awarded to individual licensed locations, not a larger organization.
If you are an ECEAP Contractor, you may submit a single application with information on all sites included in your project.
If you are an unlicensed ECEAP site or subcontractor, you may not apply for this grant.
If you are both licensed and serving ECEAP slots, you may apply as a licensed site through the Provider Portal. Licensed sites cannot receive Early Childhood Equity Grant Funding from both their contractor and directly from DCYF.
If you are a Play and Learn Group Host Organization, submit a single application with information on all sites included in your project.
What happened in previous rounds of the Early Childhood Equity Grant?
A summary of each previous round is available in the Resources box on this page. You can find this resources box on the right or scroll to the bottom if you’re on a mobile device.
Where can I get help?
Resources on this page
DCYF has resources available on this page, including an application preview guide. You can find this Resources box on the right or scroll to the bottom if you’re on a mobile device.
Please note: There are resources on this page that are for previous rounds of the grant. Guidelines and information change between rounds. Please make sure you access the 2025-2026 version of any documents, if you are looking for information about the most recent round of the grant.
Other Questions
If you have questions about this grant, email dcyf.childcaregrants@dcyf.wa.gov.
If you need technical assistance, including language access, guidance on preparing for and accessing the application, or have questions on spending and saving receipts, please contact the Imagine Institute at 206-492-5249 or TA@imaginewa.org.
