Child Care and Development Block Grant

Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) is the Discretionary funding authorized by the CCDBG Act. The Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) is the primary federal funding source to help certain families with low incomes access child care and to improve the quality of child care for all children. The CCDF consists of both the CCDBG Discretionary funding and the Mandatory and Matching funding under the Social Security Act. CCDF is a block grant to states, territories, and tribes to provide child care subsidies primarily through vouchers or certificates to families with low income. In addition, CCDF funds are used to improve the quality of child care for both subsidized and unsubsidized children. In addition to the block grants to states, territories and tribes, a small portion of the CCDBG Discretionary funding is used by the Office of Child Care to provide technical assistance to state, territory, and tribal lead agencies on administering the program. A small portion of CCDF is also used for child care research, demonstration and evaluation, and federal administration activities.