DRS Grant Competitions Forecasted in 37 States and USVI
On September 2, 2026, the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) Office of Head Start (OHS) published a forecast on Grants.gov for Head Start/Early Head Grants in Multiple States. This is the long-awaited round of DRS competitions, with $818,390,366 in program funding available. OHS expects to make 255 Fiscal Year 2027 awards under the forecasted Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO).
Grant competitions will open in 37 states plus the US Virgin Islands - Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin.
The only states not included in the forecast are Alaska, Arizona, Hawaii, Iowa, Mississippi, Nevada, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, West Virginia, Wyoming, in addition to Washington DC and Puerto Rico. However, the forecast states that the “service areas are subject to change until a Notice of Funding Opportunity is published.”
As described in the forecast, key dates for the application, award, and project period include the following.
Estimated date NOFO will post to Grants.gov: October 14, 2026
Estimated Application Due Date: December 15, 2026
Estimated Award Date: July 30, 2027
Estimated Project Start Date: August 2, 2027
In addition to the forecast for Head Start/Early Head Start grants, a forecast was also published for Early Head Start Expansion and Early Head Start - Child Care Partnership Grants in Multiple States. These grants will be available for service areas in Georgia, North Carolina, and Virginia. OHS anticipates $7,772,312 available for these grants and expects to make four awards. The timeline for the Early Head Start Expansion and EHS-CCP Grants follows the same as the forecast above.
If your program is competing for funding in DRS, we recommend using the next five weeks to get ready. This includes finalizing your program design, getting your budget ready, and ensuring that you have up-to-date data to justify your proposed use of funds. It is also important to make sure that you are set up and ready to apply. This includes ensuring up-to-date registration information with SAM.gov, Grants.gov, and Login.gov.
We encourage you to explore Foundations for Families’ Consulting Services. If your program has the capacity to write its own grant application but needs help with the timeline, template, and process, consider Foundations for Families’ DRS Toolkit. Please be in touch to learn more. We would be glad to talk with you about your program’s needs.
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