PROSPECT Act

The PROSPECT Act (S 848) creates grants to improve infant and toddler child care access for student parents at community colleges and minority-serving institutions, authorizing $9 billion over five years. It funds four types of grants: planning grants to assess needs, access grants to provide free child care for up to 500,000 children under age 3 whose parents are students, impact grants to expand community child care supply through training and startup funding, and pipeline grants to grow the early childhood educator workforce. The bill requires on-campus child care centers to meet quality standards, prioritize low-income student parents, provide flexible hours, and ensure staff wages are competitive with elementary educators. It also mandates detailed reporting on demographics, usage patterns, and outcomes to ensure accountability. The goal is to reduce barriers preventing student parents from completing their education while addressing shortages of quality child care for infants and toddlers in underserved communities.