Steering Committee on Reduction of African American Child Deaths: Black Child Legacy Campaign

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1 Steering Committee on Reduction of African American Child Deaths: Black Child Legacy Campaign Request for Proposals 2018 Strategy Implementation Evaluation The Steering Committee on Reduction of African American Child Deaths is funded by the County of Sacramento, City of Sacramento and First 5 Sacramento, and is managed by The Center.

2 APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS AND CRITERIA READ ALL INSTRUCTIONS AND CRITERIA CAREFULLY THE FUNDING OPPORTUNITY In March 2015, the Steering Committee on Reduction of African American Child Deaths (RAACD) created a strategic plan, African American Children Matter: What We Must Do Now, that outlined five priority strategies to transform public systems and foster meaningful community engagement for the purpose of reducing the persistent disparity in the rates at which African American children in Sacramento County die relative to all other children. The Center announces the opportunity to submit proposals for an evaluation of the implementation of the RAACD strategies. The contract period is May 2018 through April Up to $125,000 over the two-year period is available for the project. ANTELOPE BACKGROUND In April 2013, the Sacramento Blue Ribbon Commission Report on Disproportionate African American Child Deaths presented data documenting 20 years of disproportionate African American child mortality in Sacramento County, recommended the adoption of the goal of reducing African American child deaths by at least 10% to 20% by 2020, outlined potential approaches to achieving the goal and established the RAACD Steering Committee. 1 The report identified four causes of death that have the most disproportionate impact on African American children in Sacramento County. Those causes are: (1) infant sleeprelated deaths, (2) perinatal conditions, (3) child abuse and neglect (CAN) homicides, and (4) third-party homicides. It also highlighted the neighborhoods with the most disproportionate number of African American child deaths in the county. The seven neighborhoods that have become 5 99 Rio Linda North Highlands the focus of the RAACD efforts include: Arden-Arcade Foothill Farms Del Paso Heights Del Paso Heights/North Sacramento Arden Arcade CARMICHAEL Fruitridge/Stockton Boulevard 5 Old North Sacramento Meadowview Dos Rios/Downtown Alkalai Flats RANCHO CORDOVA North Highlands/Foothill Farms SACRAMENTO Oak Park 50 Oak Park Tahoe Park Valley Hi Fruitridge/Freeport Fruitridge Manor Following an intensive community process driven by 5 99 Valley Hi Florin core values of collaboration, community engagement, commitment, accountability, innovation, sustainability and Meadowview service, the Steering Committee created a strategic plan in March 2015, African American Children Matter: What We Must ELK GROVE 1 The Blue Ribbon Commission report, RAACD strategic and implementation plans, and other documents and resources can be found at RAACD 2018 STRATEGY IMPLEMENTATION EVALUATION PAGE 2

3 Do Now, outlining the following five priority strategies to transform public systems and foster meaningful community engagement: Advocacy and Policy Equitable Investment and Systematic Impact Coordinated Systems of Support Data-driven Accountability and Collective Impact Communications and Information Systems In June 2015, the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors voted to approve $1.5 million annually for five years to support putting the strategic plan into action. This funding commitment complements existing investments by the county s First 5 Sacramento Commission and public health, human services, child welfare and probation departments. The funding from the Board of Supervisors is structured to focus on engaging community and building and strengthening the community infrastructure to quickly mobilize around the reduction of the four causes of death. In 2016, the City of Sacramento joined the initiative, committing $750,000 in the first year. In the past 18 months, there has been considerable progress on each of the priority strategies identified in the strategic plan and further detailed in a September 2015 implementation plan, which describes the activities needed to meet the goals of reducing the four primary causes of disproportionality in African American child death rates: Coordinated Systems of Support is at the heart of the effort. Seven Community Incubator Leads (CILs) have been selected to coordinate and implement services and communications at the neighborhood level. They are respected institutions within their communities and responsible for strengthening community infrastructure so that changes created by the initiative are sustainable. The CILs are supported by a variety of technical assistance resources. In addition, they house the Multi-Disciplinary Teams made up of county and community service providers. Advocacy and Policy is the focus of the Community Leadership Roundtable, comprised of residents in the seven neighborhoods who have received training and support as first responders to community crises and evaluators of the quality of CIL implementation. Equitable Investment and Systematic Impact is intended to be implemented through an Interagency Children s Policy Council (ICPC). While the ICPC has not been formed, many instances of coordination across public agencies have been observed. For example, the Departments of Human Assistance and Health and Human Services have cooperated in convening county staff who are stationed in each of the CILs. Data-driven Accountability and Collective Impact has been implemented through quality assessments of and with the CILs, analyses of secondary data to track African American child deaths and the disparities between rates of African American child deaths and those of all other children in Sacramento County, progress reports submitted by the CILs and community-based participatory action research. Communications and Information Systems has successfully branded the community-driven work as the Black Child Legacy Campaign, which has served as an inspiring and unifying name for the work. RAACD 2018 STRATEGY IMPLEMENTATION EVALUATION PAGE 3

4 RAACD Strategy Evaluation The Center is seeking an experienced team to conduct an evaluation of the implementation of the RAACD strategies. Evaluation findings will be used to: Inform decisions about next steps in implementing the strategies Document the elements of success and the challenges for Sacramento policymakers, community leaders and other stakeholders Provide information for other jurisdictions to consider when replicating the strategies Document the extent and nature of public system and community transformation related to the RAACD strategies to inform other community-based initiatives and replication of the approach The overarching evaluation questions are: In what ways and to what extent has each strategy been implemented? What are the challenges to and facilitators of implementation success? How, if at all, are the RAACD strategies influencing public systems and their relationships with community organizations? How, if at all, are the RAACD strategies strengthening communities in ways that are likely to reduce African American child deaths and sustain lower rates of African American child deaths into the future (e.g., increased CIL capacity, reduction of risk factors for the four causes of death, improved utilization of services)? To guide The Center in its ongoing work with the RAACD Steering Committee and management of the Black Child Legacy Campaign, regular updates on the evaluation findings will be expected. At a minimum, The Center expects reports of key findings at least every six months using modes of presentation to meet the needs of the multiple audiences, including the County Board of Supervisors, community leaders and others. Annual reports also will be required. Evaluation Guidelines The Center believes that its community partners are experts in their community and the issues being addressed. The Center believes in engaging its community partners in meaningful ways (beyond data sources) in the planning and implementation of research and evaluation. The Center uses the professional standards articulated in documents such as the American Evaluation Association s Statement on the Importance of Cultural Competency in Evaluation and Guiding Principles for Evaluators and the Joint Committee s Standards for Program Evaluation. Budget and Timeframe The duration of this contract is 24 months from May 2018 through April The total budget should not exceed $125,000, inclusive of travel and expenses. Proposers may submit budgets in one of two ways. The budget may be based on an all-inclusive hourly rate for each staff person. In this case, the budget must list staff, number of hours and hourly rate for each activity. Other costs, such as travel, should be listed separately. The second option is to submit a detailed budget listing personnel (FTE, salary and fringe), operating costs (travel, materials, other), and indirect costs (up to 15% of direct costs). The budget narrative should provide a clear description of how the budget supports the proposed activities. RAACD 2018 STRATEGY IMPLEMENTATION EVALUATION PAGE 4

5 Eligibility and Qualifications Eligible applicants are research institutions, universities, colleges, policy centers, private and nonprofit consulting firms and other entities or individuals qualified to propose. Applicant teams must demonstrate the following characteristics: 1. Commitment to racial and health equity 2. Expertise in and experience with the evaluation of complex, multi-strategy initiatives, including sampling, data collection and analysis of data 3. Expertise in and experience with culturally responsive evaluation 4. Knowledge of Sacramento neighborhoods and the cultural humility and competence to work effectively with the African American residents of those neighborhoods 5. Knowledge of Sacramento city and county public systems and programs that work with children, families and communities 6. Understanding of the social determinants of health and community-based approaches to public health 7. Experience presenting findings in multiple formats that appeal to a variety of audiences Experience with community engagement and organizing is strongly preferred. Working with The Center The Center recognizes that evaluation activities require time and effort on the part of the Black Child Legacy Campaign s community partners and will work with both the community partners and the evaluation team to minimize the burden while maximizing the benefit of the evaluation to all. The Center will provide support in connecting the evaluation team to the RAACD Steering Community and the Black Child Legacy Campaign s community partners and facilitating the development of strong relationships. The Center has a collaborative approach to working with external evaluators and researchers. This involves regular communications to coordinate interactions with community partners, discuss evaluation activities, solve challenges encountered during the course of the evaluation, and generally work together so that the project is carried out successfully and yields useful and credible results. Selection Criteria and Process Responses to this RFP must be submitted through the online application process. We recommend looking at the questions listed on the application before beginning to write your proposal. Proposals submitted by the deadline and meeting the application guidelines will be evaluated based on consistency of proposed plans with the specifications outlined in this RFP, including the qualifications of the staff, completeness with regard to the required elements and feasibility of the proposed plans. The most competitive proposals will include: 1. Evidence that proposed staff meets or exceeds the qualifications listed above 2. Evaluation methods that are responsive to the evaluation questions and purposes 3. Strong work products demonstrating expertise in reporting evaluation findings 4. A budget that is appropriate for the plans and timeline Applicants who submit the proposals that are most highly ranked based on the selection criteria will be invited for an interview with the review team, which will include representatives of the community partners and The Center staff. The final selection will be based on the results of the interviews and approval of The Center. RAACD 2018 STRATEGY IMPLEMENTATION EVALUATION PAGE 5

6 Application Timeline Proposals are submitted by responding to a series of questions on the application found on The Center s online grants portal: SID_5509?SA=SNA&FID=35074 To be considered, your application must be submitted via the online grants portal by 1 p.m. (PST) on March 12, Submission guidelines follow. Proposals received after the due date/time will not be reviewed. Submission before the deadline date is advised in case you experience technical difficulties with submitting your application through the portal. Please plan accordingly as we may not be able to respond to your requests for help on the deadline date. February 14, 2018 March 12, 2018 March 19, 2018 March 23 and April 3, 2018 April 4, 2018 April 12, 2018 April 23, 2018 Release of RFP Proposals due by 1 p.m. (Pacific Standard Time) Invitations to participate in finalist interviews Finalist interviews (hold these dates) Contract decision Deadline for appeal Appeal decision contain or the criteria to be used in screening and evaluating proposals, or the date on which proposals are due; and/or Proposals were not evaluated and/or recommendation(s) for award were not made in the following manner: All proposals were reviewed to determine which ones met the screening criteria specified in the RFP; and/or All proposals meeting the screening requirements were submitted to a Review Committee, which evaluated the proposals using the criteria specified in the RFP; and/or The proposer(s) judged best qualified by the Review Committee was recommended to the Steering Committee for award; and/or The Center correctly applied the standards for reviewing the format requirements or evaluating the proposals as specified in the RFP. The written letter of appeal of the proposed award(s) must reference the title of this RFP and be submitted to: appeals@shfcenter.org. May 2018 Contract signed Appeal letters must be received at the above address by the date shown in the RFP timeline. Oral appeals will not Appeal Process The Center has established the following appeal process for this Request for Proposals (RFP). Any applicant wishing to appeal disqualification in either part of the screening process or the proposed award recommendation(s) must submit a written letter of appeal. Submit such a letter by the date shown in the RFP timeline. Any appeal shall be limited to the following grounds: The Center failed to include in the Request for be accepted. It is the proposer s responsibility to ensure receipt of delivery to the above address by the date specified in the timetable. Appeals will not be accepted after the deadline specified. Appeal letters must clearly explain the failure of The Center to follow the rules of the RFP as discussed above. All written appeals shall be investigated by The Center, which shall make a finding regarding any appeal by the date shown in the RFP timeline. Proposals a clear, precise description of the format that proposals shall follow and elements they shall RAACD 2018 STRATEGY IMPLEMENTATION EVALUATION PAGE 6

7 Important Application Guidelines Access the RAACD Strategy Evaluation application at: To help us process your proposal, please follow these submission guidelines: We encourage you to open the online application and review the questions before beginning to prepare a proposal. New users of the portal will need to create an account as the first step in the application process. We encourage you to submit your proposal before the deadline date in case you need help with any of the guidelines below. The deadline for submission of proposals is no later than 1 p.m. PST on March 12, For optimal functionality, please use Internet Explorer as your web browser for the portal. Respond to all fields. Required fields are marked with an *. Upload all documents listed under Application Attachments Checklist below. On the portal, you may click Save & Finish Later. You will receive an with a link to return to your in-progress application. You may only submit your application once. Be sure your application is complete and accurate, including required documents, before submitting it. APPLICATION ATTACHMENTS CHECKLIST Proposed budget for the full 24-month contract period, May 2018 through April 2020 upload a budget as a PDF file following the guidelines provided above. The total budget should not exceed $125,000, inclusive of travel and expenses. Proposed budget narrative for the full 24-month contract period upload a narrative as a PDF file that explains your proposed expenditures. In no more than two pages, describe the bases for the costs presented in the proposal. Evaluation plan Upload a plan of no more than six pages that describes how the evaluation will be carried out, including likely methods choices and data sources, analytical approaches, reporting plans and a rough timeline. Brief (no more than two pages per person) resumes of all those who would be part of the evaluation team. Two to three reports or other work products demonstrating your experience and expertise in presenting evaluation results in a variety of formats. Send questions about this RFP and the application process to raacd@shfcenter.org with the subject line: RAACD Eval Question RAACD 2018 STRATEGY IMPLEMENTATION EVALUATION PAGE 7