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Creates a new 5-year competitive grant program run by the CDC, in coordination with the Administration for Children and Families, to train and support early care and education (ECE) providers to promote healthy eating, physical activity, and address food insecurity for children birth through age 5. Grants go to nonprofit organizations, higher education/research centers, or consortia; grantees work with state and local implementing partners, must prioritize diverse populations, and are subject to national independent evaluation. The program is authorized at $5 million per year for FY2026–FY2030, with an additional $1.7 million authorized for FY2026 for tracking State progress.
The bill would improve early childhood nutrition, physical activity, and food-security supports in ECE settings through funded training, evaluation, and capacity-building, but does so at modest federal cost while adding administrative burdens, limiting reach for some providers and communities, and risking uneven access for rural and under-resourced programs.
Children birth–5 and their families will receive stronger, funded supports for healthy eating and physical activity in ECE settings, improving early childhood nutrition and activity habits.
Children in ECE programs, particularly low-income children, will gain resources and interventions connecting them to nutrition supports that reduce food insecurity and measure food-security outcomes.
States and providers will build lasting capacity to integrate nutrition and physical activity into early childhood programs, with funding to test and scale evidence-informed innovations (e.g., ECE–healthcare linkages, staff wellness, family engagement).
ECE providers and state agencies will face increased administrative and monitoring burdens (reporting, evaluation) that can divert staff time from direct care and service delivery.
Implementing training, monitoring, and program requirements may raise costs for States and providers, potentially requiring new funding or diverting resources from other services.
Rural and under-resourced ECE programs risk receiving less benefit, creating or widening inequities in access to nutrition and activity supports for disadvantaged children.
Introduced September 9, 2025 by Cory Anthony Booker · Last progress September 9, 2025