Oklahoma Receives $14.7 Million Federal Preschool Development Grant

Award is focused on building data, systems in early childcare

OKLAHOMA CITY, Jan. 13, 2026 -- The Oklahoma Partnership for School Readiness (OPSR) will continue its work to build a more robust early childhood system in Oklahoma, thanks to the December award of a $14.7 million Preschool Development Grant Birth through Five (PDG-B-5) from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. 

OPSR will serve as the lead agency for the one-year grant, collaborating with multiple agencies and partners to implement a coordinated statewide strategy. 

The grant was awarded thanks to $2.1 million in state matching funds from the Oklahoma Department of Commerce and an additional $3 million in state appropriated matching funds to support the Department of Human Services' role in implementing the supported projects. 

Other partners include the Oklahoma State Department of Education, the Oklahoma Department of Human Service, Oklahoma Head Start Collaboration Office, and the Oklahoma Commission on Children and Youth.

“This federal grant application came together over an 11-day period at the end of the year, and it wouldn’t have happened without true partnership from the Department of Commerce, Governor Stitt’s team, and our partners in Child Care Services at OKDHS,” said Amy Emerson, President of OPSR Foundation. “Because of them, we have an opportunity to continue making transformational change for families, children and early childhood programs in Oklahoma. We appreciate their trust, their partnership and their dedication to this work.”

OPSR first received federal preschool development grant funding in 2019 to support a needs assessment and strategic plan. In 2022, Oklahoma was awarded $36 million over a three-year period to update and begin implementing strategies outlined in the strategic plan. To date, those funds have been used to support the early childhood workforce and families in all 77 counties through programs including telehealth services, early literacy programs, accreditation support, teacher retention and recruitment and pyramid model implementation, which is designed to improve early learning environments.    

“The 2025 PDG B-5 grant will continue building on the strong foundation we now have in place,” said Jeffrey Cartmell, Director of the Oklahoma Department of Human Services. “The work we have done with our partners over the last four years has identified specific needs, and this funding will allow us to continue building better data systems while implementing specific strategies to help Oklahoma’s early care and education system improve and ultimately, serve children, families and our workforce better.”

Informed by the 2024 Needs Assessment Update and the 2025 Early Childhood Strategic Plan, OPSR proposed a coordinated portfolio of projects designed to strengthen alignment, expand and sustain effective programs, and update data and navigations systems that center families across Oklahoma’s Birth–Five early childhood system. Additionally, OPSR’s approach aims to elevate Head Start and Early Head Start as critical partners within the mixed-delivery system.

Specific outcome strategies include building a unified birth–five transitions framework with a pilot project to help families transition their children from early care settings to Pre-kindergarten and Kindergarten.

The grant will also improve workforce stability for early childhood programs throughout Oklahoma, providing funding for regional business academies designed to teach integrated workforce strategies, retention incentives, and expanded early literacy capacity.

And finally, the program will improve early childhood data in Oklahoma, including funding for the Department of Human Services to modernize its portal project. Funding will also update Oklahoma’s School Readiness Pathway indicators, including new data tools that can be used to measure outcomes and make policy decisions to improve early childhood systems in the future. 

Oklahoma is one of 23 states that received Preschool Development Grant Funding in December, with award amounts ranging from $500,000 to $15 million, according to the First Five Years Fund, a Washington, D.C. based advocacy group. 

Click to View OPSR's 2025 PDG B-5 Application

Note - Organizations referenced in the PDG B-5 grant application are provided for illustrative purposes to demonstrate OPSR’s capacity and ability to launch implementation activities efficiently upon award. All contracting and procurement decisions related to PDG B-5-funded services will be conducted in accordance with OPSR’s internal policies and procedures and applicable procurement best practices.

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About OPSR 

OPSR was created to help Oklahoma families access the early care and education, family support, and health and mental health services they need to support their children during their most critical period of development from birth through age five. Serving as Oklahoma’s Early Childhood State Advisory Council, OPSR facilitates collaborative planning and decision-making to increase coordination between programs, to maximize the use of public and private funding, and pursue policies that improve learning opportunities and environments for Oklahoma’s youngest children. To learn more, visit okschoolreadiness.org.

This program is supported by Grant Number 90TP0161-01-00 from the Office of Early Childhood Development within the Administration for Children and Families, a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Neither the Administration for Children and Families nor any of its components operate, control, are responsible for, or necessarily endorse this program (including, without limitation, its content, technical infrastructure, and policies, and any services or tools provided). The opinions, findings, conclusions, and recommendations expressed are those of the Oklahoma Partnership for School Readiness and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Administration for Children and Families and the Office of Early Childhood Development.